Starry Skies
by Colorful Crayola
Summary: Sequel to Better Days. Kathryn is adjusting well to her life on the secret NEST base in Deigo Garcia. Despite a few Decepticon attacks, things have been quiet. However, the Decepticons are finally preparing for a massive strike against the humans and Autobots, and she'll have to get help from old friends to fend off Megatron and his plots once again. [ON HIATUS PENDING REWRITE]
1. Counting

**Hello, readers!**

 ***trumpet fanfare* INTRODUCING, THE SEQUEL TO _BETTER DAYS!_** **Yes, you've read that right, folks. The wait is OVER! I've finally started work on the sequel! This is just the first chapter, but I hope you guys like it. I've been having a hard time getting this thing started, so it might be a bit of a bumpy ride until I get back into the swing of things. I'm hoping to update at least once a month, considering I have other projects I'm writing for, as well. Depending on things, you may even get more than one chapter a month, but I don't make any promises. :) Please enjoy, and tell me what you think! I'm especially concerned about the new character I've introduced, so let me know your thoughts on her.**

 **Thanks for the support and for waiting so patiently! I'm going to still be following the general movie timelines, but I'm hoping to kind of deviate where I can so I'm not just rehashing the same fic/movies that you've read and watched already. I'll be taking cues from the novel adaptations of the movie as well as the movies themselves, and try to fix the less desirable parts of the movies (since they all just kind of went downhill from the first one) where I can. Let me know if there's anything in particular I can do! I'm always up for listening to ideas and theories. :)**

 **~Crayola**

* * *

Chapter One

Counting

How much does a person cost?

It should have been a difficult question; something that shouldn't be quantified or associated with a dollar sign. Someone's life, someone's identity. It wasn't a question I'd thought much about until the death of my parents, and even then it hadn't sunk in. I hadn't appreciated how much thought the insurance adjusters put into their claims.

Now I found myself constantly asking that question. Hours spent, pouring over mile-long piles of papers that I never seemed to put a dent into.

Splitting the work with one other adjuster meant that the end was near, though. The Decepticons had been forced into hiding while they licked their wounds, giving me a break from the seemingly never-ending paperwork.

Between the two warring alien factions, collateral damage built up quick. The Autobots did what they could to minimize death and destruction, but the Decepticons showed no such restraint or care for life on Earth. Their last attack on Rome had sent two 'Cons ripping through the streets, wreaking havoc until the military finally took notice.

Buildings were easy: they were taken care of by the local government. Belongings were simple: either dismissed entirely or up to personal insurance. Even livestock was an easy price to negotiate.

In fact, claims processes actually simplified things. It was laid out in basic terms and clear-cut rules. No, the problem wasn't deciding how much to pay out for the loss of life, it was how artless the policies were. The whole procedure was laid out like a damn shopping list.

So, how much _does_ a person cost?

Funeral or cremation.

Hospital bills.

Missed income.

It should have been a simple process. Check the claim to see if damage or loss of life was directly caused by the Cybertronians or the military. Autobot or Decepticon. Just follow the guidelines and fill out the paperwork, and if it was approved, someone from the government wrote a check, otherwise you send a stock-standard apology and denial.

Unfortunately, I mailed out tenfold the number of denial letters than I did actual approvals. Done and done. I was supposed to be able to wash my hands of it.

But each claim I filed for a human casualty ate away at me bit by bit.

Crushed by a building that collapsed from explosives. Stuck in a car someone had used as a shield. Trapped in a pile of rubble after a giant alien ran into the building. Vehicle crashed—stepped on—friendly fire—burned—died en route to the hospital—

"Kathryn?"

I exhaled sharply in surprise and shoved the remaining papers across my desk, tipping over my pen holder in the process.

"Oh, I apologize! Did I startle you?"

Sighing, I covered my face with my hands, propped on my desk by my elbows. For a moment I stayed like that, ignoring my guest, and breathed. I let the soft music on my phone wash over me, let it settle my frayed nerves. This week, I'd have a lot to talk about with my government-appointed therapist.

Finally, I lifted my head to look at the Autobot standing nearby, waiting so patiently for me to recover. "It's fine, Star. I just thought you were sleeping, or in stasis, or whatever," I said.

She blinked—there were quite a few habits she'd picked up from us humans—and hummed at me with a fond sound. "You can call it sleep, if you would like. I was doing just that until a couple of minutes ago. Jazz wishes very much to see you and you were not answering him."

Groaning, I said, "Oh yeah, sorry. I took it out so I could work. Sorry he woke you."

"I do not mind."

With some resignation, I picked up the Bluetooth headset I'd knocked off the desk in my fright and turned it over in my fingers. The tech guys and Autobots had set it up to receive a specific frequency so I could talk to Jazz. Any Autobot could call me, as well, but I could only send a call to Jazz—with the touch of a button.

Star approached my seating arrangement and put a can of Mountain Dew down in front of me. "Here. You need the energy. You have been at this for hours, since before I started my sleep cycle."

"Yeah, I should take a break," I sighed, picking up the can and downing some of it.

"He is insistent."

With another groan, I slipped the earpiece in and hit the call button. He was in my ear immediately afterward.

 _"Ey! There's m'little miss!"_

Despite my previously sour mood, I grinned at the sound of his voice. "What's up?"

 _"Thought maybe Star'd gone savage again and got ya,"_ he said. Star harrumphed next to me, but Jazz continued. _"E'ryone's goin' down to the beach. Come outta ya cave and join us!"_

"It's not a _cave_ ," I said. "It's my office."

 _"Same difference. You comin' or what?"_

I was already organizing my desk for later and on the way to my personal room to change by the next time I spoke. "Yeah, I'll be there in a few minutes. Usual spot?"

 _"You know it,_ " he assured me. _"See ya soon!"_

"Yup, see ya."

The line fell silent and I turned to see Star still standing in my office. She spent most of her time there with me, pretending to be a vending machine. I tried to coax her into spending time with the Autobots or even the others, but she didn't feel like one of them yet.

"Are you coming with?"

"They do not trust me."

With a roll of my eyes, I motioned for her to come. "Don't be ridiculous. That was just Jazz being stupid, he didn't mean anything. He teases me all the time too, remember?"

Star avoided looking at me for a moment, fiddling with my pens, then nodded."I suppose."

As she came out with my half-drank can of soda, I smiled at her and took it back from her. She ducked under the doorframe and I started down the hallway. She was shorter than Jazz by a few heads, but still too tall for most doorways. Her "education" had taken the better part of a year, but she'd come a long way from the snarling vending machine she had been in Mission City.

It had been a joint effort between the Autobots and NEST and had required quite a bit of work. One of the new Autobots had coined her name, taken from the first four digits of her serial number: S74R. Star. The name stuck, and she didn't seem to mind.

I wasn't sure why she'd chosen a feminine persona, but I figured it might have been because a lot of the humans helping to "tame" her were females—myself, a woman by the name of Kaminari Ishihari, and a handful of others. But, it could have been any number of reasons, and I didn't want to bother her by asking.

"Why would he say that if he didn't mean it?" she asked as we walked toward the personal barracks and my room. I and a few select others had our own quarters.

"Well," I started, "that's how he shows he likes you. Through teasing."

She blinked at me. "That is very confusing."

"It's not that confusing. You just have to listen to the tone of his voice. You should be able to tell when someone's teasing or being serious by their pitch. But, when in doubt, just remember that if Optimus trusts you, then everyone does," I reassured her.

My companion turned away from me, unconvinced. "If you say so."

"I trust you." I smiled, placing my hand on the crook of her elbow.

Her expression brightened some and she nodded. "Thank you, Kathryn."

*:･ﾟ✧

Diego Garcia was the largest island of the Chagos Archipelago, and the current base for the Autobots and NEST operatives to train. It _had_ been populated with civilians, but some cockamamie scheme was concocted to kick them all out so the US and UK military could take it over. Everyone assured me that the citizens had been given proper reparations, and that it had been necessary.

Whatever they had to tell themselves.

Despite the ugly politics of it all, it was a beautiful atoll. Lush, tropical plants covered the land around the base, and the water was always blue and clear. The only thing I really had to complain about was the crabs. Those things were everywhere, and they always got inside the compound somehow.

Well, I also tended to complain about the fact that I was stuck on an island in the middle of the Indian Ocean, miles and miles away from the mainland and any decent reception.

It was another great day for the beach, though. Something the others and I weren't really able to enjoy between all the work and new arrivals. The sun was brighter than I'd expected it to be, almost as if I hadn't been outside in a week. I shielded my eyes against the light and tried to scan the beach. There was a light breeze that caused the sarong around my waist to flutter against my legs.

"You afraid of some sand, little miss?"

A large shape blocked out the sun and I dropped my hand, grinning up at Jazz. "Not sand, but I think I might be turning into a vampire."

He chuckled and crouched down in a wide stance. "You are lookin' pale. An' dry."

"Jazz . . . ." I took a step back, one hand up as if it'd stop him. "Let me put my stuff down!"

"You comin' with me!"

I had just enough time to shriek, and then he scooped me up and took off toward the waves. I managed to drop my towel and bag before he carried me too far from dry land.

"Jazz! Jazz, no!" My gleeful squeals continued until I was thrown into the surf. I had the wherewithal to suck in one last breath before the salty water swallowed me up. My arms flailed for a second and I kicked to gain any semblance of buoyancy, and then I was hauled back above water.

Somehow I'd managed not to swallow a bunch of seawater, but I still coughed when I made it up to fresh air. My so-called guardian snickered and set me on his arm. "Sorry 'bout that."

"No you're not," I huffed, flicking water off my hand into his faceplates.

He flinched and pretended to dump me back in, but caught me at the last second. "Ey, no need fer that! I'm kinda sorry, almost. Jus' seemed like the kinda thing people do at the beach! Dunk each other an' stuff!"

"Yeah, yeah. But I can't really dunk you back."

"I'll do it for ya!" came a new voice, following by loud splashing.

Jazz lurched and lifted my over his head, holding me around the waist. "Hey, hold it right there!"

A red Autobot slammed into Jazz, grappling with him while he tried to hold me up with one arm. I squawked when he accidentally tightened his grip to keep from dropping me.

"Sideswipe, I out-rank you!"

"Not at the beach you don't, short-stuff."

I clung to Jazz's fingers, squealing and shrieking as I was jostled. I could feel the top of my bikini loosening and I barked out, "There's a human up here, you two!"

"Yeah," Sideswipe said, trying to heave Jazz up by his legs. "And I'm gonna dunk Jazz for you."

"Sorry for this, Kat," Jazz grunted. Then, all at once, I was sailing through the air once more. This time I didn't manage to take a breath before hitting the water. I flailed around after sinking below the surface, finally breaking through with some serious thrashing.

Coughing and spluttering, I kicked and paddled away from the two 'bots trying to push each other over. The waves they were making only made my job harder.

Somehow, though, I was able to make it to the sandy shore. Star was standing by the collection of towels nearby, watching me with her head tilted. She had already brought over the towel and bag that I'd dropped when Jazz nabbed me.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

Despite the nasty taste of saltwater and bile in the back of my throat, I supposed I was. "I'm fine. Don't you want to get in the water?"

Star shook her head. "My components are not Cybertronian. The salt water would cause harm."

"Oh, sorry. I didn't think about that," I said while flattening my towel out on the sand so I could sit and stretch out.

"There is no need for apologies," she assured me, presenting a beach chair to me. "It is amusing to watch."

Smiling, I gladly stood up and took a seat on the chair instead of my towel. I hadn't even seen it there before that. Shaking the sand from my towel, I used it to dab my skin dry and I started fishing through the bag I'd packed for some lotion.

Another 'Bot approached and scoffed. "Everyone should be as worried about the saltwater as you. And this sand. When they're done _playing_ , the salt and sand is going to slag up their joints and circuits . . . I don't even know why I let Sideswipe talk me into coming this far from the road."

He lifted a pede and shook some grains loose from the plates—all over me and Star.

"Why don't you go back to base then?" I shot back, glaring up at him.

The sun glinted off Sunstreaker's canary-yellow paint job, making me squint. "Sideswipe would never let me hear the end of it," he grunted.

As if on cue, Sideswipe spotted his brother. It seemed Jazz had managed to disengage—or win—and was heading out of the water toward us. Sideswipe shouted, "Sunny, get your shiny aft over here and enjoy the ocean!"

"Pass."

Though the two siblings continued to argue, I chose to ignore them and greeted Jazz as he drew near. "You're done already? I was just about to go in for another dip."

"No you wasn't," he countered.

Considering the fact that I was already lathering on some suntan lotion, I couldn't really pretend with a straight face. "Yeah, okay, but I was thinking about it. Kind of. Sideswipe's a little more rowdy than usual, isn't he?"

Jazz sat next to me when I motioned to a spot that wouldn't block the sun. If I was going to be at the beach, I was gonna get a tan.

"Ah, he's just antsy. Missed out on the Venice mission," he said.

"Is that why Sunstreaker's so grumpy, too?" I asked, adjusting my sunglasses.

Sunstreaker harrumphed. "I can hear you, you know. I'm standing right here."

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed," I mumbled, earning an amused bout of snickering from Jazz. "Then, are you grumpy because you weren't on the mission?"

"I am not 'grumpy'," he insisted. "Besides, not being on the mission gave me time to buff out some of the organic matter from my systems. Everything here's so dirty and course and . . . wet. How do you humans handle it?"

I shrugged. "By also being organic."

"Stop complaining, Sunstreaker," Jazz cut in, not unkindly. "It's not so bad, an' it's better'n being lost out in space with no home."

The yellow mech grumbled but had nothing else to say.

Star put a hand on the back of my chair and said, "For what it is worth, I don't think that Earth is a dirty, wet place."

With a chuckle, I responded, "Thank you, Star."

*:･ﾟ✧

About an hour later, an engine roar interrupted a conversation we were having and we turned to see a trio of riderless motorcycles pulling up through the sand. The three colorful bikes—a pink Ducati, a blue Suzuki, and a purple Agusta—parked nearby and one of them spoke.

 _"Where is Lennox or Epps?"_ It was hard to tell which of the sisters was speaking.

Jazz indicated to the water, where the two were wading back to shore. They were the source of the cooler filled with beer next to us. "They're both coming up now, Arcee."

So it was the pink one speaking. Arcee, Chromia, and Elita-1 were sisters much like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker were brothers, except they didn't all look alike. Even though the twins were different colors, their body types and models—Lamborghinis—were identical. The three sisters all had their own unique look and were different bikes.

 _"Thank you, Lieutenant,"_ Arcee said. _"We have already informed Optimus of this, but there has been activity again."_

My guardian made an exasperated sound and stood. "A'ight. One a you go tell those two. Arcee, gimme your report. An' I've told ya before, just call me Jazz. No need to be so formal all the time," he chided her in good nature.

Chromia, the blue bike, struggled to spin her tires in the sand but eventually excused herself to follow Jazz's order.

Arcee said, _"I apologize Lieu—Jazz, sir."_

"Close enough," Jazz muttered. "What sort of activity?"

 _"The syntax is strange, but I know we have two more Autobots landing within the next day, and a Decepticon signature was picked up. It was found in . . . ah, I apologize. The decoded message says something about being 'shanghaied'?"_

At that, a few of our present company glanced my way.

I drew a blank for a second, and then recollected the meaning. "It usually means that someone's being taken somewhere. I think, um, the original meaning was to be taken by pirates? I don't know."

Sideswipe chimed in helpfully. "There's a place called Shanghai, too."

"Ah, yes. He's right, in China I think," I said, wondering why I hadn't thought of that first.

Sunstreaker added, "Who are the two bots that are coming?"

Elita-1's engine growled and she supplied, _"The twins."_

Scoffing, Jazz said, "We already got the twins right here."

It was a joke, but no one found it funny. I didn't really, either, but I still chuckled to keep him from feeling bad about it.

 _"Yes, but . . . it's the_ other _twins,"_ Elita-1 elaborated. It may have just been me, but she sounded displeased by her own information. I might have thought I was imagining it, but the other Autobots' moods made me think they weren't exactly happy, either.

"Mudflap and Skids?" Sunstreaker spat the names out as if they were a bad taste.

Only Sideswipe didn't seem bothered. He clapped his hands together and could have been smiling. "Great! Now there'll be _three times_ as many pranks we can accomplish!"

Jazz gave him a solid blow to the shoulder with his fist. "Y'all gonna behave yourselves!"

Though I was certain it didn't hurt, Sideswipe rubbed the spot he'd been hit and mumbled to himself before moving away from Jazz. I rolled my eyes at him and glanced over when Lennox and Epps approached. Chromia met up with her sisters and the three left.

"Can't get five minutes without the Decepticons mucking everything up, can we?" Epps complained, tossing his towel over his shoulder. Both men were still wet.

Lennox nodded. "Looks like we're heading to China."

"Now?" I asked.

"Soon as we make up some sort of plan with Optimus. We have to brief everyone and then get approval. But, we have to act fast so by the latest, tomorrow night," Lennox explained.

I sighed and rubbed my head. "Well, could you guys just do me a solid and try not to throw civilian vehicles at the 'Cons? Or crash through any more buildings? The paperwork is giving me the worst kind of headaches."

With a sympathetic sound, Jazz said, "We try an' avoid as much collateral as possible, little miss. The Con's don't, though."

Epps cut in. "We'll have to borrow Jazz for a little while, Kat."

"Aw." I frowned but tried not to look too disappointed otherwise.

Standing, Jazz glanced at me apologetically. "Sorry, Kat," he said. "Duty calls. I'll try an' make it quick so we can hang some more."

"It's fine," I said. "I have a lot of paperwork I still need to do. Maybe I'll go finish that, fax it all off to the Pentagon, and by then maybe you'll be free and I can help scrub some of the sand and salt from your joints."

Sideswipe's cheeky reply interrupted Jazz. "If you don't want to wait, you can always help me polish my chassis."

I opened my mouth to retort, but didn't get the chance; Jazz took exception to the remark and was quick to judo-flip the ornery Lamborghini onto his back. The impact made the ground beneath me shudder and I gasped in surprise as sand showered over me.

 _Great, sand_ everywhere _._

"Ow! Primus, Jazz, what was that for?" Sideswipe whined.

"Didn' like your tone," my guardian harrumphed.

Lennox laughed and gave Sideswipe's arm a pat as they walked by. "Don't know how it works on Cybertron, Sides, but here on Earth you don't mess with another mech's woman."

"I wasn't messing!" Sides objected, standing up. "Just trying to be inclusive."

"Oh, leave him alone," I chided. "He's harmless. Besides, I'm a strong, independent woman who don't need no mech."

"Ah, okay, so then next time some 'Cons show up I'll just let ya at 'em," Jazz teased.

My hands up in defeat, I said, "Okay, let's not go crazy. I'm not _that_ strong and independent."

"Yeah a'ight. Epps, Lennox, let's go meet wit' Optimus," my guardian sighed, motioning with his arm for them to follow. He transformed into his silver Solstice form and opened his doors for them to climb in. _"I'll meet'cha later, Kat. Keep ya earpiece on!"_

All I offered as a response was an errant wave. "Have fun in your meeting . . . ."

"Come on, Sunny! The water's nice!" Sideswipe was shouting at his brother, making a beeline toward the choppy waves. He seemed to be over the whole thing with Jazz already.

Sunstreaker just crossed his arms. "No. I'm going back to base, as well. This will concern everyone, and if you want to be part of the mission you should show some initiative and attend the briefing, Sideswipe."

"He's right, you know," I added.

Sideswipe sounded reluctant, but stopped and walked away from the water. "Alright, alright . . . Primus . . . let's go."

The two transformed, one red Lamborghini and another identical yellow one, then followed after Jazz and the boys. That left me and Star at the beach—finally quiet now, save for the waves breaking on the shore and the occasional cry of a seagull.

"That was a strange encounter," Star commented, still staring back at the base. "Why did what Sideswipe said upset Jazz so much?"

I shrugged. "He was just being crude, that's all," I said, holding up my hand.

Star handed me a can of soda and replied, "You'll need to purchase more soon."

"Thank you. You're sure you're okay with this? I can get my sodas elsewhere if it bothers you," I offered, turning in my chair to look at her.

She shook her head. "It is fine with me. I am happy to help. It would be denying who I am and where I came from to not vend drinks. However, I am still unsure why Sideswipe's 'crude' remark antagonized Jazz."

Holding the can over the sand, I pulled the tab and waited to make sure it wasn't going to fizz all over, then sat up straighter to drink. I wasn't sure how Star managed to keep the drinks ice-cold while she was up walking around, but I never bothered to ask, either. "Oh, he's just a little overprotective of me, is all. Sideswipe really ought to have known better," I said, swallowing a few gulps of soda.

"I also fail to see what was crude about his comment."

Pulling a face, I settled deep in my chair. "That's not really something I can explain very well. Look up euphemism and innuendo and you should get the gist."

That was kind of a lie, I just didn't want to explain.

"I will take your advice," Star assured me.

A moment later, she asked, "Will you be going with them?"

"No," I said. "I'm not a field agent, I just sit and fill out paperwork."

Sighing, I stood and gathered up my belongings. If it was just going to be me and Star out on the beach, I figured it might as well be me and Star in my office, finishing the last of the paperwork from the Rome mission. I'd been out in the sun for a little more than an hour, anyway, and I felt that was plenty of time for a tan.

"Speaking of which, I guess since the beach party is over I might as well go back to work."

Star nodded and we headed to base together. Star was silent, but I had the feeling that she had something to say. I kept glancing at her, waiting, but decided I would have to reassure her before she spoke up. She was still too worried about what we all thought about her.

"What's bothering you, Star? You can tell me, you know."

The small femme regarded me for a moment, then looked straight ahead again. "I was just calculating how long it had been since your last real break from work."

"Oh, yeah?" I hadn't considered she'd been concerned about me.

"Perhaps it would be beneficial if you went with them. Not on the mission, but it seems that it would be a fine destination for sightseeing."

That thought hadn't crossed my mind, but it _had_ been quite some time since I'd been to the mainland. At least since we'd moved to the new base. Before that, even in the California base, I'd holed up in an office, learning how to fill out the paperwork properly and who to fax it to. I was taught the protocols and a bunch of clearance certification, since this was all the highest secrecy level possible.

Even Sam and Mikaela had certain levels assigned to them. Anyone who had contact with the Autobots or Decepticons were sworn to secrecy, but only Sam and Mikaela had any right to contact us for information—and maybe a handful of others I wasn't really aware of.

Mostly because they still had Bumblebee with them as their designated protector. Really, he was there for Sam, but he and his girlfriend were a package deal.

Maybe it _was_ long overdue that I took some me time.

"You're right, Star. I'll bring it up to Jazz when he gets out of briefing and when I'm done with my paperwork. Thanks for having my back," I said.

"Of course."

For a moment we were silent, but I couldn't stay quiet long.

"You should go to the briefing, too, Star. They might need you for the mission," I suggested. "You can't hang out with me all the time."

It wasn't meant to be mean, but she seemed hurt by my words. "You do not want me around?"

"What? No, that's not what I meant. Sorry, I was just . . . saying. I like hanging out with you! But you can't hide from everyone just because I'm not as scary as them," I pointed out, not unkindly.

She looked down in thought, then said, "But my instructions—"

I put my hand on her arm. "I know. But I sit alone most of the time. You'll learn more about humans and your half-Cybertronian peers by being with them."

Reluctantly, she agreed. "You are right. Okay. I will attend the briefing with the others."

Satisfied, I dropped my hand and grinned. "Good. It's not that I don't like being around you, okay? I'm just trying to help, 'cause you're my friend."

Star smiled back as much as her faceplates would allow. "Yes, I realize that now."

"Alright, so I'll see you later, then."

We parted there, and I headed back to my room to change clothes—again—before I started on the last of my paperwork in my office. I was fond of Star's suggestion to go to Shanghai, and I figured so long as I stressed the fact that I wasn't going to be in the mission, just sightseeing, I should be able to go. Have some fun for once.

The human members of NEST weren't likely to object, it would just be Jazz. He was always so worried about my safety. If I could butter him up first, though . . . .

I _was_ pretty good at that.


	2. Let it Slide

**Hello, readers!**

 **Well, here I am again for my monthly update. Only one chapter for this fic this month. I've got some updates for Phantasm that I wanna get out instead. So I'm kinda sorta not really cheating my three chapters a month quota but who's gonna fight me about that I HOPE NOT YOU cuz you'll probably win let's be honest.**

 **Anyway, I'm not really 100% with this chapter but I don't know what else to do so here it is, anyway. Hopefully, you all like it more than I do lmao. Well, crap. I guess I gotta pick a chapter name for this. Here goes nothing.**

 **~ Crayola**

* * *

Chapter Two

Let it Slide

I waited outside the hangar for the meeting to end once I'd finished faxing over the paperwork. Living and performing my duties at the base actually added an extra step in the claims process, since the actual office was in the Pentagon. I was offered an office there, but Jazz and I had made it clear we didn't want to be separated. It was a little inconvenient to the suits in the States, but that's why man had invented the fax machine and the Internet. I had about two dozen sticky notes with a bunch of different numbers on them for various people and protocol references. It had been a year and change since the doctor had given me the all-clear for my concussion, but my memory was still shit.

A soldier opened the door to leave, and I slipped in before it closed. Carefully, I let the latch catch and stood in the back to wait there, a fly on the wall. They seemed to be wrapping up, but the Autobots were in a heated discussion amongst themselves while the military thumbed through maps and readouts.

Star was standing with the 'bots, facing me, and I waved at her when she glanced over. She nodded and turned to address Jazz, and I frantically tried to gesture for her to stop.

She didn't notice, though, and pointed me out to Jazz.

Sighing, I hid my face in my hand. I'd have been perfectly fine waiting for them to come to a natural conclusion, but Jazz excused himself from the group and headed over.

Grimacing, I stopped leaning and smiled at him sheepishly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I was just trying to say hi to Star when I saw her standing over there," I said, motioning to the small 'Bot still speaking with Optimus.

"Naw, it cool little miss. We was done, just discussin' a few things. What'cha need?" he asked, crouching down in front of me.

"I told you I'd help wash the ocean out of your joints," I said, clasping my hands behind my back. "I wanted to talk to you about a few things, too. But how did the briefing go? You come up with an award-winning plan?"

He chuckled and offered his hand. I sat down and he lifted me up, heading for the exit. "We always do. We had Mudflap and Skids redirect their course to Shanghai so we can just meet 'em there. Their landing might draw out the 'Cons hiding in the wings. We only had the signal for a couple seconds 'fore we lost it so who knows if they even still there."

"A new Decepticon?" I asked.

"Maybe. Starscream still got wounds to lick. They likely tryna collect supplies to repair Megatron, so we gotta find out what it is in Shanghai that they want."

The sun was dropping below the horizon, but we still had an hour or so before night completely took over. It was a short walk from the hangar to the plane cleaning station. The base used to be an airport—before the military had depopulated the island—so it had to have heavy-duty hoses and tall machines to clean the airplanes. It was perfect for an Autobot spa.

"Do you think they can do it? Fix Megatron, I mean."

"Maybe. The 'Cons don't have a good medical officer like Ratchet so it might take some time. If they had the Cube they could do it right quick, but they can't."

"Cuz Sam broke it?"

"Cuz Sam broke it," Jazz reaffirmed.

I glanced back at the main building and asked, "The base is safe, though, right?"

"Aw ye'h, course," Jazz assured me. "They don' know that thing's here. Even if they did, we'd see 'em comin' a mile away. The military assures us it's under lock and key beneath the base. We can't even feel its energy and we right on top of it."

"That's a relief."

"We got this," he assured me.

Jazz let me down when we reached our destination. I helped myself into the supply shed while he moved the cherry picker. With a little trouble, I hauled out some hoses and telescoping scrub brushes, as well as a few different soap products.

"Do you want to smell like citrus or bleach?" I asked, examining the labels.

"Not bleach," he snorted while taking a seat on an old luggage cart.

Chuckling, I set aside the bleach-based cleaning solution and set to work with the lemon-scented cleaner. Luckily, Jazz wasn't very tall, so I could climb up on the luggage cart on which he sat and reach all the way to his head with the scrubbers. No need for the machinery. Trying to assist the others with buffing usually required the cherry picker.

"You didn't wanna just talk 'bout the cube shard, didja?" he asked

I shook my head and set to work scrubbing sand and salt out from between his armor plates. "I was thinking I'd come to Shanghai with you all."

He turned most likely to tell me off, but I quickly raised my hand and said, "Let me finish!" When he remained silent, I went back to pulling some seaweed out of his leg joints. "I just want to get off this island for a little bit. I don't want to participate in any mission, I just wanna see some sights."

For a moment he didn't say anything, and I was afraid he would deny my request.

Before he could, I continued babbling. "I'd be fine, y'know. You guys try to keep things out of major cities, baring the Rome incident, of course, that wasn't your fault. And I'm an adult, Jazz, so you can't just—just keep me locked up in the base—"

Chuckling, he poked my chest with a single finger and said, "Relax, little miss. I don' see why ya can't come so long as you stay outta the fight."

"I wouldn't dream of being stuck in another one of those," I assured him.

"Ah, it wasn't that bad, was it?"

I shot him an incredulous glare and he laughed. "I'm kiddin', I'm kiddin'. Jus' let Lennox know you wanna go be a tourist for a bit and I'm sure he'll arrange a seat for ya."

Smiling, I nodded and scrubbed with more vigor. "Thanks, I will."

Jazz lifted my gaze with his finger under my chin. "Y'know, you don't gotta always ask my permission fer this stuff."

"Oh please," I scoffed, playfully pushing his hand away. "I'm not asking your permission, just didn't want to surprise you. You'd have a hissy fit if I just showed up and announced I was coming with you to someplace you're holding a mission."

"I wouldn' call it a 'hissy fit' . . . ."

Eyebrows raised, I said, "Oh no?"

"Naw, I don' throw hissy fits!"

"Pretty close to it," I taunted.

Next thing I knew, I had a bucket of soapy water dumped over my head. I leaped off the flatbed and gasped, holding my arms away from my body. I spluttered and wiped my face with my hands, shouting, "Jazz, that could have gotten in my eyes! What the hell?"

He was too busy guffawing to respond.

With my eyes narrowed, I picked up the hose and pulled the handle to turn it on, blasting him with a jet of water right in the face. He put his hands up to protect himself and then hopped off his impromptu chair to transform into his vehicle mode.

I clicked my tongue in disappointment and slowed the flow to something more manageable and less destructive. It had almost knocked me off my feet.

"See? Hissy fit," I harrumphed.

 _"Aw, little miss, I was just horsin' around. Now you all clean, too."_

Rolling my eyes, I turned the hose on myself to wash the soap away, then wrung the extra water out of my shirt. "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ok. Whatever. You just stay like that, though. You're rude and I don't wanna look at your face, you rude, rude mech."

Jazz snickered and I wondered if I let him get away with too much. Despite my harsh words, I was smiling and shaking my head.

 _"A'ight, I getcha."_

For the rest of his wash, he stayed in his vehicle mode unless I asked him to change back real quick for one reason or the other. He was a big pain the neck sometimes, but he was _my_ big pain in the neck, so I put up with him.

*:･ﾟ✧

"Looking shiny, Jazz," Lennox observed as the Autobot and I approached. We were back in the hangar, and I was as dry as I could be, all things considered.

"You know it."

"Hi," I said with a small wave.

He nodded at me and said, "Hey, Kat. What can I do for you two?"

"Got room for one more to Shanghai?" I asked, leaning on the table that Lennox was standing behind, pouring over a map.

Lennox gave me a strange look and then glanced up at Jazz with disbelief written in his expression. "You want to go to Shanghai with us? Like . . . where we're maybe going to be fighting off the Decepticons?"

Jazz snickered and I sighed before saying, "No, I just wanted to tag along and be a tourist for a little bit. Take a mini-vacation."

"That makes much more sense," Lennox said with a relieved hunch of his shoulders.

"Caught me off-guard too," Jazz told him.

I clicked my tongue in irritation.

Smirking, Lennox said, "It's fine with me. It's not like you take up a whole lot of space. You only get one bag, though. It's not like this is a week-long trip. Two days max. Maybe three."

It wasn't like I had a ton of stuff to pack anyway, but I agreed all the same. The look on Jazz's face told me he'd be okay with storing any extra stuff I needed in his personal pocket dimension. I nodded and said, "That's fine. When are you guys leaving?"

"Around dawn. So you might want to turn in soon," he suggested.

"Okay," I said with a smile. I bid Lennox a good night and Jazz saw me out of the hangar to walk me over to the main barracks area. The prospect of getting off the island for a little while, even a day or two, was exciting. Diego Garcia was beautiful, but I was going stir crazy. I needed some human interaction outside of my work friends.

If I could even call some of them friends. We spoke, but mostly about work. I usually just hung out with Jazz and sometimes Sideswipe. There was another Autobot I'd sometimes hung out with: a little jet ski named Beachbreak. He, however, had been killed by Starscream a few months prior.

His death had made me worry about Jazz even more.

"Aight, this yer stop," Jazz said outside the building. A light lit up the doors and walkways, basking us in a dim glow.

"Thanks, Jazz. I'll see you in the morning," I said, grinning up at him.

He winked and said, "If you don' wake up, I'mma send Star in wit' a bucket'a water."

Rolling my eyes, I pretended to kick him in the ankle and pulled the door open. "Don't you even dare. A normal wakeup call is just fine," I huffed.

Chuckling, Jazz waved and said, "Ye'h, aight. G'night little miss," before transforming into his Pontiac Solstice form. He blared his horn as he tore off across the tarmac. Another horn returned his call and Sideswipe came careening out of nowhere in his alt mode—and suddenly they were racing.

Rolling my eyes, I rubbed my forehead and headed inside. At least they found a way to have fun while they were stuck on this planet. I stood in the doorway for a moment and watched them fishtail and disappear around a corner.

Before turning in, I threw a few clothes in a bag and anything else I might need. I wasn't planning to use any subspace storage; I didn't have a lot of things—a couple pairs of jeans and shirts, and a nice dress just in case. Whatever souvenirs I purchased could be put in subspace on the way back, though I tried to leave a little extra room in my bag.

There was one more thing I had to do before I went to bed, though. I couldn't stay up much later if I was planning to get any real sleep, but I figured I could always nap on the trip over.

I had a phone call to make, but I wasn't sure if Marie would even be awake.

Then I remembered that she was the mother of a toddler. Of course she was awake. Probably had been for a couple of hours now: it was already close to 11 am over in Montana. After making myself comfortable in bed, I dialed her number.

She picked up the phone after a few rings and said, "Kat, is that you?"

"Yeah, hey Marie. What're you up to?"

"Just getting Mikey ready for his play date today. How's your job going?"

Shrugging, I said, "Kinda boring." Well, the paperwork was, so not a total lie. That _was_ technically my job. "The scenery is beautiful though, and I've made friends here."

"That's great! Sometimes I miss work, but Mikey'll start school next year if I'm lucky, and I might consider looking for work again," Marie said. In the background, I could hear her son screaming about something. What it was he was doing, he seemed to be having a blast.

"You guys still doing okay with just Brandon working?" I asked.

Marie sounded chipper enough when she replied. "Oh yeah! It's a little tight some months, but for the most part, we're doing fine. He just got promoted a bit ago, and we've been talking about doing daycare so I can get a part-time job. It's just hard finding a good place."

"Sounds like you guys have it all planned, then."

"Oh yeah, we're good. Not raking in government paychecks like you, though!" she teased.

I rolled my eyes. "Oh please. They're not that big. But, I was actually calling because I have a little bit of a break coming up. What's your schedule looking like for the next few days? Any chance you'll be free?"

Humming in thought, Marie said, "Mostly just being a mommy, I think. Why, you coming back to the states?"

"Not really, no. I'm gonna be going to Shanghai in the morning. Doing some on-location work over there for a couple days. I was wondering if maybe you'd wanna come," I said, worrying the corner of my blanket. It was often too hot to sleep with the thing, but I couldn't sleep without it anyway.

For a moment she was quiet, and then she groaned. "Oh, Kat, I couldn't possibly. The plane ticket alone would—"

"I'll pay for your ticket, don't worry about that."

"That would be so much money for a last-minute ticket!" she gasped.

"Girl, I am not spending this money on anything else. It's just sitting and collecting dust. It's not going to break me," I assured her. My expenses were all paid for while I was on the base. They might pull some stuff from my pay, but I didn't notice.

She was still uncertain. "I mean, that's great, but how long will you be in Shanghai? That's a long flight, and I'd have to find someone to take care of Mikey while Brandon's at work . . . ."

Grimacing, I said, "Oh, uh, right. I'm sorry, I didn't really think this through before calling you. I don't know how long I'll be in Shanghai. At least two days, I'm sure, but you're right. It was short-notice for us, too, we didn't get the call until about three hours ago, and a plan wasn't made until after the call. I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me, Kat! At least this time you didn't call me at three in the morning," she snickered.

"Jeez, don't remind me . . . I felt so stupid."

However, she just laughed. "It's fine. I was a little irate at the time but I had a good laugh about it afterward. Anyway, I'm happy you were thinking of me. If you get something with a little more notice, continue thinking of me! Maybe we could make a family trip out of it."

"Alright, yeah," I said. "Sorry for being dumb again. I was so excited, and it's been so long since I've seen you or . . . anyone, really. From home."

Marie made a sympathetic sound. "I know, we haven't gotten together since Mikey's first birthday party. You moved away to go to school, then just went straight to your job with the government! They really wanted you, eh?"

They really wanted Jazz back in a position to help the Autobots, but we were a package deal so that was close enough.

"Yeah, I guess. I might be able to make a trip to the states at some point. The perk of my work being 90 percent paperwork is I can take it anywhere I have access to a fax machine," I pointed out. "Only thing I gotta worry about is transportation."

"Well, let me know and I'll be able to pick you up. I have to take Mikey to his play date now, but call me from Shanghai! And take lots of pictures, alright?"

"Of course. I'll buy you a souvenir for when I come to visit," I said.

"Ooh, I can't wait! Get some sleep before your trip," Marie said. Her son was louder now, likely as she tried to wrangle him up for the car ride.

Nodding, I said, "Yeah, I will. Hope the playdate goes well."

"It will! He's pretty well-behaved. Talk to you later."

"Bye." I hung up the phone and stuffed it under my pillow, where I hid my face as well. I didn't know what I'd been thinking, inviting Marie on such short notice to a trip outside the freaking country. It wasn't until that phone call that I'd realized I was kind of lonely.

Maybe I just missed my friend. It _had_ been two years.

I hadn't spoken much to Sam or Mikaela, either. A few calls here and there from her mostly, to catch me up on how their schooling was going. Apparently, Sam was attending Princeton; making good use of that government hush money.

Mikaela had bought back her dad's garage so they could both work there together. I didn't really know what major Sam was going for. He probably didn't even know himself.

When I got back from Shanghai, I'd have to give them a call and find out how they were doing. How Bumblebee was doing. I hadn't heard much, and I hadn't asked Jazz in a couple months because we always had something else to talk about.

Besides, it gave me conversation fodder for when Mikaela and I did speak.

For the time being, I marked off my mental checklist before turning out the lights. I curled up under the blanket and tried to sleep through the excitement of this mini-vacation.


	3. Satisfied and Empty

**Hello, readers!**

 **I held off on posting this right away because I thought I'd just...release it for the holiday (for those of you in the US like me. I'm not actually sure where you're all from!) as a kind of July 4th present of sorts. However, I was only able to get this chapter and a chapter for _Noctuary_ done this month, instead of my usual three (or seven, depending on how many chapters I get edited for _Phantasm_ ). Work's got me slaving away and working more afternoon shifts instead of morning shifts.**

 **Which, you know, is better for my sleep but worse for my writing haha. That, and I'm trying to work on an original story, so it might be a smidge harder to get 3 fic chapters out a month, but I'll still try.**

 **Also also, I'm pregnant.**

 **So. There's that. Hadn't really been expecting that when I made my "three chapters a month" resolution at the beginning of the year heh. Enough about me, though! I'm going to (once again) try really hard to reply to as many reviews as I can, so feel free to hound me with questions or concerns about the story! :D Enjoy the chapter!**

 **~ Crayola**

* * *

Chapter Three

Satisfied and Empty

Thank God for Star.

Had she not been around, I never would have woken up in time.

One of the perks of working for NEST was making my own hours. I hadn't had to wake up before the sun rose in a long while, so when the alarm I set on my phone went off, I didn't take notice at all. It took Star letting herself into my room and shaking my shoulder before I finally woke up.

At least it wasn't a bucket of water like Jazz had threatened.

She hadn't turned on my light, so everything was pitch black except for the flood lamps outside filtering in from my shaded window, glinting off Star's armor plates.

The panic only lasted long enough to pull me out of my sleepy daze, then I realized who the dark, mechanic shadow was hovering over me in the dark. I groaned and rolled over, dragging my phone out from under my pillow to check the time.

It probably wasn't safe to keep it under there and charge it, but I liked to live dangerously.

"Star? What're you doing here? It's not even six yet . . . ."

"You forgot." It wasn't a question.

Rubbing my face and sitting up, I said, "Star, it's too early to remember. What did you need?" through a yawn.

"They will be leaving soon for Shanghai. Jazz sent me over here when you didn't show up. You didn't answer your earpiece, either. So I came to wake you," she said, turning to look around the room before picking up my pre-packed luggage. "He wanted me to bring a bucket of water but I didn't know what for. It's sitting outside for you."

I blinked at her with my eyes squinted, then suddenly felt much more awake.

"Oh shit, that's right! Man," I groaned, turning on the lamp by my bed before leaping to my feet. "Lemme just . . . put on a pair of pants or something."

She stood by the door and waited while I stripped off the boyshorts I slept in and put on the first pair of jeans I spotted. I went through my mental checklist one last time, remembered my wallet and passport, then had Star lead the way once I made sure I had my earpiece. I immediately ran back into my room to put on some socks and my shoes, then left again.

"Do you need your bucket of water?" Star pressed, standing by the door. There, by her feet, was a small tin bucket.

Closing my eyes, I pinched the bridge of my nose. "No, Jazz is just being stupid. Leave it."

"Oh."

"Oh, and I can carry that," I muttered, rubbing my eyes.

 _Dammit, I need some coffee._

Star glanced at me, then the luggage in her possession, and said, "I'm already carrying it."

Too groggy to insist, I just dragged my feet in silence while I followed her across the tarmac to where the crowd of people and Autobots were gathered by a pair of planes.

Jazz, however, decided that we weren't walking fast enough. I didn't even notice he'd come up to us until he honked his horn, inching his way next to me. In true Kathryn fashion, it startled me so bad that I wound up flat on my ass with a scream.

"Ay, it's just me. Stop screaming," Jazz snickered, already in his terrestrial form and plucking me off the pavement. Never mind that I'd only screamed _once_.

With a whine, I said, "It's too _early_ for any of this! The sun _isn't even out_!"

He just laughed and carried me to the cargo plane with Star chugging along behind with my bag. "Aw, you can sleep durin' the 18-hour flight."

"Will there be coffee?" I asked as he put me down to walk up the ramp on my own.

Lennox answered, hauling something up next to me. "This isn't a luxury cruise, Ms. Walker! Afraid there won't be any coffee or in-flight snacks." He sounded far too chipper for the time of day.

 _Ugh. Nobody has any sympathy._

Like a knight on a white horse, Epps showed up with a foam cup and handed it over to me. "Don't worry, Kat, I got ya. Also managed to rummage up some reading material fresh from the guys back home, too."

"Oh my god, thank you," I said, taking that first wonderful sip of coffee. It was still hot but could have used an extra helping of sugar. I wasn't about to complain, though. I then took the manila folder he was holding in front of me. "You're a lifesaver. What's this, though?"

Inside the plane, around the sides, was where the soldiers and other passengers could sit and strap in. Some of the Autobots—Arcee, Chromia, and Elita-1 along with Sunstreaker—were already held in place by anchored nets to keep them from sliding around. They were in their vehicle modes, as they wouldn't all be able to fit if they were free standing.

Jazz was coming up behind us, his engine purring.

Epps showed me where I could sit and I accepted, settling in with a bit of help since my hands were occupied. As he handed back my coffee cup, Epps explained, "It's the file you wanted about Sector Seven and your pops. The suits back on the mainland had to thumb through the entirety of their defunct little group before they could release anything to us."

 _"I coulda had it to ya years ago,"_ Jazz pointed out. Two men were hooking the net over him.

"We can't have you guys hacking around in government files!" Epps reprimanded. "Y'all tryna set a _good_ example, and that ain't a good example."

I ignored them, the file in my lap as I ran my fingers over the smooth material. Sure enough, the label on the tab read "Walker, K." Kyle Walker. My father. It was maybe a hundred pages thick, and I could only imagine what was inside. What kind of person that my dad really was. The sorts of things he did for Sector Seven. I drank a bit more coffee, hoping to chase away the heavy pit forming in my stomach.

 _"You gonna read it now?"_ Jazz asked, pulling me out of my thoughts.

Shaking my head, I leaned back and nursed my drink. "Not right now, I think. Maybe when I'm more awake. The coffee's gotta kick in."

He was silent for a moment before saying, _"You know I coulda had this stuff for ya."_

"I know," I said, smiling at him. They were loading Sideswipe aboard now. "Like Epps said, though, we're trying to convince the folks at the White House that you guys are different from the Decepticons, and having you root around in classified files is not going to do that."

 _"Ye'h, I know._ "

 _"Oh please. Jazz wouldn't be caught dead by your firewalls and sad excuse for defenses. Blackout's an idiot with no finesse. The only reason he was caught was because he attacked a military base and caused a fuss,"_ Sideswipe scoffed.

Sunstreaker's engine coughed. _"No one asked you, Sides."_

They started to bicker, but I tuned them out and addressed Jazz after yawning. "Where're the big guys at?"

 _"Optimus, Ratchet, and Ironhide are in they own plane,"_ Jazz said.

 _"Yeah, cuz they're too fat to fit with the rest of us,"_ Sideswipe chimed in, snickering.

Elita-1 chose to speak up then. _"I'll be reporting that remark to Optimus."_

 _"Aw, c'mon. I was just joking! Don't be a snitch."_

Rolling my eyes, I leaned back in my seat while everyone finished loading up. Star was given a corner nearby, in her vending machine guise, strapped down in a manner similar to the vehicles. The soldiers piled in until we were sitting shoulder to shoulder, and the plane started humming to life.

Lennox was to ride in the other plane. Epps was at the front of ours, belting out some orders that made little sense to me, so I looked around and just followed what everyone else was doing. Even then the guy next to me had to help fasten the eighty safety belts that would keep me in place. I thanked him through my embarrassment and tried to make myself comfortable for the next eighteen hours. How much turbulence were they expecting for this many seat belts?

 _No pleasure cruise, indeed._ The boat ride over had been more enjoyable, and we'd been attacked by pirates halfway through.

*:･ﾟ✧

The hum of the engine and roar of the wind outside lulled me into a catnap shortly after we took off. It was enough to make me feel more awake but my coffee was room temperature by then. I sighed and stowed it between my body and the seat so it wouldn't make a mess if we hit turbulence.

 _"Sleeping beauty's awake,"_ Jazz quipped.

I rubbed my eyes and glanced at him. "I wasn't asleep that long."

 _"An hour or so. Sleep good?"_ he asked, chuckling.

"I guess."

 _"Good enough to read them papers?"_

Blinking, I checked my lap and then the floor, discovering the file had slid off at some point during my rest. I picked it back up and straightened the papers inside. Somehow, it felt heavier in my hand and peeling back the cover seemed almost impossible. I closed my eyes and pushed the cover back down with a sharp exhale.

 _"S'matter?"_ asked Jazz.

For a moment, I sat in silence, staring at my father's name on the tab. The words to explain myself wouldn't come—maybe because I wasn't sure myself what was wrong.

Jazz tried to hazard a guess. _"Still worried he might be a secret jerk?"_

My lips curled up at the corner a little at how well he seemed to know me. "Maybe. I'm just not sure what I'm gonna read in here."

 _"And ya never gonna find out if ya don't read it."_

"I suppose."

 _"_ Ugh _. Will she read it? Won't she? The suspense is killing me,"_ came a sarcastic remark.

 _"Stay out of it, Sideswipe!"_ Sunstreaker berated his twin.

We ignored the two and I once again set myself to the task of looking through Dad's file. I had to take a deep breath and remind myself that I was being ridiculous, but of course, Jazz's encouragement was a big help.

Maybe Sideswipe's bitching also kicked me into gear—but not by much.

For the first few pages, it read like a background check. They went deeper than I thought was even possible. Incidences in high school, Dad's childhood friends were listed, the route he took delivering newspapers detailed, and it had the cashier job at a bookstore in high school. His parents and their parents were listed . . . all the way back to Sam Walker, my great-grandfather who met the Autobots in space. The first Walker to join Sector Seven and the entire reason why my family was killed. His dad, my grandfather, was also a member if the paperwork was to be believed.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much there on Sam Walker to be read. He and his crew had never returned to make a report, after all, nor was it his file. All it had on him was a brief few lines outlining that they were to slingshot around the sun and see how far they made it, then they were never heard from or seen again.

Most of which I knew already.

Still, I combed through it all. The notes, the grades, all honor roll mentions, and the training results. I wondered if, somewhere in the Pentagon or wherever, they had a file just like this one on me. There was a small section on my mother attached via paperclip to the rest of his background, but nothing as thorough: more like a regular background check. A non-existent criminal record, what schools she graduated from, and a few other trivial things.

Nothing on me except when listed as his only child. No nieces or nephews.

Everything was probably relocated to my own, personal file after being accepted into NEST.

It was refreshing, learning a few harmless things about Dad. It almost made me forget that he worked for a horrible, arrogant government sect that had kidnapped and tortured Bumblebee, as well as threatened Sam, Mikaela, and their families.

And that was the part I was dreading.

Learning about any awful things Dad had done in the name of progress or national security was not at the top of my list. The file was thick, though, and I stopped to rest my eyes for a while and prepare myself for what might be to come. I took the paperclip off of Mom's meager section and adjusted it so I could keep my place for when I picked it up later.

There were pictures of each of them in there; I pursed my lips and looked around, then pulled the wallet-sized photos and slipped them into my phone case for later. I had pictures of them, but they were in frames or photo albums. Most of the things I had of them were in storage back in the states.

Now I'd have something to carry with me.

 _"So?"_ Jazz pressed.

I set the folder down on my lap and sighed. "Just read his background right now. A bit of info on my mom and stuff, jobs, random things. They were . . . really detailed on everything."

"He did work for a secret branch of the government only the President was aware of," Epps chimed in from a few seats away. Most of the soldiers I was riding with—Epps included—were listening to music on headphones or reading. I hadn't thought anyone would be paying us any attention. "Gonna need more than a drug test and criminal background to make it."

"I guess that'st rue," I said. In afterthought, I added, "How thick is my file?"

Epps glanced at me and smirked. "Not as thick as that, but give it a few years. Your pops worked for Sector Seven how long?"

I thumbed through the file and said, "More than twenty years."

"Alright, give it another twenty years and it might get that thick."

However, his words made me frown. "Twenty years? You think you'll be fighting the Decepticons for that much longer?"

That toned down Epps' grin and he glanced around, as if for help.

It was Arcee who answered—I think. I hadn't known the three femmes long enough to be able to differentiate their voices yet. _"We have been fighting the Decepticons for thousands and thousands of years. The best we can hope for is that we chase them from your planet as soon as possible."_

Under his breath, Epps muttered, "I was just making conversation," and then the rest of what he said fell too quiet for me to hear.

 _"You humans gotta lighten up,"_ Sideswipe said. _"Y'all don't live long enough to be so serious."_

 _"Oh yes, that'll help. Remind them of their mortality,"_ Sunstreaker groaned.

Jazz revved his engine and snapped, _"All y'all just shut it and rest up for the mission. Yer givin' everyone a headache."_

 _"I haven't said more than two words!"_ Sideswipe argued.

 _"One word outta your vocal processor is too much!"_

Sideswipe and Jazz continued to bicker for a moment until Jazz pulled rank, and then he had no choice but to stop yapping. Jazz apologized to everyone, but the scene had at least successfully relieved some of the somber atmosphere from before.

Most likely unintentional, but it had sparked some conversations. It probably helped that everyone was more awake.

I, however, hadn't spent a lot of time with the soldiers, male or female. Most of my free time was spent with Jazz or Star. I was fine burying my nose in the file, though. With Sideswipe forcibly quieted by Jazz, we could have a short and pleasant conversation without interruption from the peanut gallery. Normally, I didn't mind Sideswipe's snarky comments, but he hadn't yet figured out that there was a time and place for it.

The majority of the file was a drag to skim through. It contained a great many pages of field reports he'd filed—photocopies, anyway. Moments of increased "brain" activity from NBE-1, or Megatron, that always passed quickly. Spikes of Cybertronian energy that were written off as glitches or feedback from the Cube.

There were quite a few unintelligible lab reports all centered around something that Sam and Mikaela had told me about. When Simmons had taken them into custody, they'd been shown a room where the techs channeled energy from the Allspark and used it to awaken human machines.

If I recalled their story right, the team had brought a Nokia phone to life as a demonstration, then promptly destroyed it.

All the lab reports I was reading in Dad's file were of the same vein. A cell phone here, an electronic toy there, the occasional battery, and even a lawnmower. There were several dozen cases of these awoken things, called Ferals in the reports, and they all ended the same way.

"Subject too violent, impossible to control."

"Terminated."

Dad had been trying to find a way to initiate conversation with them so that they could be taught and controlled. He recounted in his reports how they all jabbered—probably in Cybertronian— and attacked everything that moved.

It sure sounded like what Star had been like until she'd been subdued and had spent several hours with Ratchet and Optimus. Sector Seven never would have been able to connect with the so-called Ferals without a live Cybertronian to help. It was just a shame that they all had to be destroyed so soon after being "born" because they didn't fully understand what they were messing with.

If my great-grandpa had survived the trip to space, they probably would have understood a little better, but Starscream had blown up that possibility.

 _"What gotcha lookin' so serious?"_ Jazz asked, pulling me from my thoughts.

"He worked a lot with the faux Cybertronians they made in their lab," I said, turning over a few sheets describing incident reports where Dad had been hurt by a Feral. I vaguely remembered his coming home with his arm in a cast, but he'd told us he'd fallen down the stairs at work. "Like Star, but they couldn't control them so they were always just killed."

I glanced over at Star's general location, but she didn't move or say anything.

 _"Sucks. If they were even half as aggressive as Star an' that game console, I could see why. They oughta just been a bit more patient."_

"You guys never found that thing, did you?"

 _"Ye'h, but you've heard the stories."_

Still focused on the file, I only managed a hum of acknowledgment as a reply. There was quite a few years' worth of lab reports, but I didn't read all of them. Though I was glad for the file, it left me with a large feeling of being underwhelmed. I wasn't sure what I'd expected: a full-blown psychological report on the kind of man my father was, I guess. All I had, though, was a bunch of reports I could barely understand, some time-off requests, and some expense records.

No disciplinary reports, though, so I could at least assume he was a hard worker and hadn't done anything to piss off the higher-ups. A couple promotions, some raises—just regular business things on top of the alien experimentation.

Sighing, I closed the file and wedged it between me and the seat, on the other side of my cold coffee. Now I was all out of storage.

 _"Ya all done?"_

Shrugging, I kept myself busy with straightening my shirt where it had bunched under my harness. "Yeah, for the most part."

Jazz left me with a pregnant pause and I looked up at him to add, "Really. I know what he did for Sector Seven now. He'd always been really vague with what his job was, so . . . that's good to know. He wasn't the kind of field agent Simmons was, at least."

 _"You still seem disappointed."_

"I'm fine, really. I'll look at it more later if I have some time in Shanghai. I might take another short nap. You know how much longer it'll be?" I asked, trying to change the subject.

Again, Epps was the one who answered. "Got another four or five hours."

Sideswipe broke his silence to groan loudly, and even Sunstreaker seemed none too pleased with the news.

 _"A'ight, little miss,"_ Jazz said. _"Feel free to hop in if ya wanna talk."_

"I will, thanks."

While I settled into my seat and tried to find a comfortable position to nap in, Star offered everyone a round of drinks.


	4. Free Tonight

**Hello, readers!**

 **Sorry for the really long wait! D: I know I'm terrible. I really wanted to get Phantasm edited, though, and it's done! All done! Most of my edits for Ask Not the Sparrow are done, too, I just need to figure out where the story is going to go from there. I also need to apologize because this chapter, full disclosure, is probably a little disappointing. I had no idea where I was going with it for a while, and it's just . . . kinda meh, I guess. Maybe one of you guys can tell me how to better it or assuage my disappointment.**

 **It's also not that great because I didn't spend as much time as I usually do on it. I gave birth here recently and because of the emergency c-section, recovery was a little harder than I had been expecting. Taking care of a newborn is certainly no easy task, either! That on top of the holidays and dealing with visiting family (among other things) didn't leave much room for quality control on my writing.**

 **Hopefully the upcoming chapters are better. I definitely feel bad that I'm leaving you guys with this . . . thing after such a long wait. I hope you all are having great holidays, however. :) And, if you wanna know how you can help support my original content, drop me a PM and I'll share something neat with you!**

 **~ Crayola**

* * *

Chapter Four

Free Tonight

It was like heaven when we finally unloaded from that stupid plane. As soon as I was clear of the loading ramp and out of everyone's way, I took great care to stretch every muscle I could; from my fingers all the way to my tippy toes. The rest of the occupants walked by, their glances drawn by my loud and content groaning. They shook their heads in amusement and moved on.

 _"You get enough beauty sleep, princess?"_

I rolled my eyes at Sideswipe as he coasted by. "More than what could ever benefit your ugly mug," I huffed in retort.

 _"Ow, kitty's got claws."_

 _"She had to grow some to deal with you,"_ Sunstreaker added, close behind his twin.

Sideswipe scoffed. _"Don't know what you're talking about. I'm the most well-behaved and mannered 'Bot on the team."_

A bump against the back of my knees pulled me away from the twins' playful bickering; Jazz had pulled up behind me. Smiling, I walked around to climb into the driver's seat, tossing my dad's file onto the one next to me.

 _"Sorry. Dunno why he's so obnoxious,"_ he said with a forlorn creak.

"Ah, he's harmless. Probably just glad he has someone else to pick on that can't fight back," I mused, not bothering to buckle up. It was a short drive to the hangars they'd be hiding in for the time being. The Chinese division of NEST had pulled some strings to give us the clearance for the mission, and we were teaming up with them and some of the British soldiers for now.

 _"Maybe. You find anything else in that file?"_

I picked it up and flipped it open. "Some doctor's notes, a few reference letters. Performance reviews. He was well-liked and did his job to his superior's standards. Couldn't find any write-ups or anything . . . . Dad was a model employee, I guess," I said, setting it back down.

 _"That's good, right?"_

"Yeah. Better than him being a troublemaker. I kinda wanna see Simmons' file in comparison, though. See if they thought he was as much of an asshole as I do."

 _"I could arrange that."_

Grinning, I shook my head. "Don't go getting into trouble on my account."

 _"They wouldn' even know what hit 'em!"_

"I was mostly joking," I said with a good-natured pat on his steering wheel. "What's the plan, anyway? They gonna lend me a car or something so I can go sight-seeing? Or are you gonna escort me around?"

I was kind of hoping the answer to the latter question was no: Jazz had a job to do on the Autobot team, and it wasn't being my babysitter.

Though, I did really wish we could go together. We couldn't do much while we were in public, but driving around with him was fun. At least I'd be able to talk to him through the earpiece while we were apart, though. When he wasn't busy, anyway.

Jazz said, _"Star gonna take you around. She needs more trainin' 'fore she can partake in live combat."_

"Star? How?"

 _"They getting' her another alt."_

My curiosity spiked, but I decided not to ask and let it be a surprise. The hangar was coming up already, anyway. When Jazz parked, I climbed out and received my bag from the trunk. It was only planned to be a one-night stay, and though I really wanted to find a hotel room or something, in the end, I just opted to stay on base. That would make it easier in the end when it was time to leave. No worrying about checking out or if I was going to make it on time to catch my flight back with the soldiers.

Not that I was really looking forward to another flight in that awful thing.

 _Why don't any of these Autobots fly?_

After being shown where I'd sleep that night, I went searching for Star. Jazz had given me a few ideas when it came to the tourist side of Shanghai—all far away from where they projected the Decepticons to be hiding—and there were a few that I wanted to check out.

I was not as worried about where these sights were in relation to the Decepticons. There was some good shopping to be had in those areas.

With a tap of my finger against my earpiece, I was connected to Jazz. "Where's Star at?" I asked him, trying to remember how to return to the hangar they were all in.

 _"She in here, ready for ya."_

It took a moment, but I navigated my way back to the Autobots and found what I assumed was Star parked next to Jazz. After all, I hadn't ever seen that particular motor scooter before.

Still, I asked as I approached, "That you, Star?"

 _"Yes. It feels much different than my usual alt, to say the least. I am ready to go whenever you are, but I haven't had much practice,"_ she said.

"I can imagine," I muttered. All I could think about was how she made the tires, considering she'd been a vending machine since her creation and awakening. But, the Cybertronians ate metal and churned out ammunition so who knew what else they were capable of.

She even had a new paint job.

 _Best not to think about it,_ I told myself.

 _"Where would you like to go first?"_ Star prompted upon my silence.

"Oh, um, sorry. Yeah, I got a few places in mind," I said. Turning to Jazz, I added, "You stay safe, alright?"

 _"Safety's my middle name,"_ he scoffed.

Rolling my eyes, I pointed an accusatory finger at him. "Limit your collateral damage! No destroyed buildings, no civilian cars as shields. At least _try_ for me? Please?"

 _"I'll do my best."_

It was as good as I was going to get. I gave his hood an affectionate pat. "Good luck. I'll see you later tonight."

Sideswipe chimed in. _"We don't need luck when we have my pure, unadulterated skill and power on our side."_

"Oh my god."

*:･ﾟ✧

If I had more than one day to spend in Shanghai, I would have visited more places. That wasn't the case, however, so I had to pick and choose the few I wanted to see the most. Thanks to Jazz and the internet, I knew where my priorities were. I was going to be spending a lot of time shopping around on Nanjing Road, but my first and most wanted stop was the Yu Garden, unwinding, looking at some pretty plants and garden decorations.

So, that was where I had Star drive me, first.

Though I didn't have a critical eye, I knew beauty when I saw it. The architecture, the expert landscaping, and beautiful structures . . . I could at least appreciate those for their worth. It was calming, too. There were plenty of other tourists milling about, adding to the noise, but I didn't mind that so much. In fact, I enjoyed it. The island could be so quiet sometimes.

I was beginning to feel like I was part of society again. Even the small interaction with the admissions lady had been the most socializing I'd done with non-military personnel or robots in the better part of a year.

 _And_ she'd spoken English.

Well, kind of. Enough that I was able to pay and thank her, anyway.

"I could spend all day here," I told Jazz, taking a break from wandering around to sit and enjoy the immense koi pond.

He was in my ear, distracted but still chatting. _"I'll make sure t'bring ya back, then! When we got more time. You could stay longer if ya wanted to, ya know. Get a hotel. See s'more sites."_

I tossed in a handful of fish food and smiled when the colorful fish swarmed the area. Worth the money. I said, "I know, but then I'd also have to catch a flight somewhere that you guys could pick me up. I'll just stick around until we're ready to head back."

 _"If yer sure."_

"I am. Are you finding anything?"

It took a moment for him to respond, but that was a common occurrence when he was on a mission with the Autobots. I waited patiently, filling my time by feeding the fish and watching them flit about. I would have liked nothing more than for Jazz and me to share a vacation. Him being a giant robotic organism from an alien planet made that difficult, but still.

He also looked like a car most of the time and flying a car anywhere had to be expensive.

That was fine. It would be worth it in the long run. At least right now we had the privilege of living on a private island where we could hang out whenever without fear of discovery.

Finally, he picked the conversation back up. _"Mudflap 'n Skids landed an' got themselves some local disguises. You can meet 'em later. We got some leads on the 'Cons, finally. Tryna corner 'em into a construction area that clears out in a couple hours. Real careful like,"_ he added in afterthought.

"So, you're making progress. I won't keep you, then."

 _"'Ey, you ain't a bother."_

"Maybe not a bother, but a distraction for sure. I'm about ready to head out and start some shopping, anyway. Grab some souvenirs and a gift or two for Marie."

 _"I bet she'd like that."_

"I hope so. Next time maybe I'll take her with me. She and I can enjoy the day in Shanghai, then you and I can paint the city red at night."

 _"An' when would you get any sleep?"_

Smiling, I handed the rest of my fish food to a kid cooing over the pond. She squealed with delight and went straight to tossing it at the fish. Meanwhile, I tried to remember which direction the exit to the garden was.

To Jazz, I said, "There'll be time for me to sleep when I'm dead."

 _"Whatever you say, little miss. Get to shopping,"_ he chided.

"Only if you get to mission . . . en . . . ing."

 _"Good one."_

"Shut up, bye."

He snickered and then the line fell silent. I grinned to myself and removed the earpiece, stowing it in my pocket. Normally, I left it in all the time, but I didn't want to be tempted into talking to him—or vice versa.

If I needed him, I could put it back in.

If he needed me, he could tell Star and she'd let me know.

I didn't know what he'd need me for, though. Not unless something awful happened and we needed to make a quick getaway, or he needed to tell me to go find somewhere to hide. _Best not to think about it!_ I chided myself. I'd be stuck imagining worst-case scenarios all day if I let myself.

Eventually, I found my way to where I'd left Star parked.

"Hey, Star. Everything good?"

 _"Yes. No one bothered me. There were no signs of the Decepticons, and the mission is going well,"_ she assured me as I took a seat. _"Where would you like to go next?"_

"Nanjing Road. There's supposed to be great shopping there. I hope you weren't too bored just sitting out here."

After I had my balance figured out, Star zipped off to our destination. I felt less weird talking to her while we were moving, but since we were in a foreign country, I didn't have to worry about eavesdroppers knowing what my Vespa and I were talking about.

 _"No, I wasn't bored. You humans are quite fascinating to observe,"_ she said.

With Star at the helm, I was able to sit back and enjoy the cityscape. I replied, "I still feel bad. At least we can hang out while we're on the road. How're you liking this form?"

 _"It's odd but fine. It was easier to adjust than I had first anticipated. I do enjoy being more mobile, and I'll be much more useful like this."_

I smiled. "Yeah, I suppose so."

Part of me couldn't help but think that at least _one_ of us was useful. All I could do was fill out paperwork and keep Jazz company.

 _Well, at least I'm good at those_.

*:･ﾟ✧

I had not thought shopping through. Had Star been a normal Vespa, I wouldn't have had anywhere to put my shopping bags—and I _might_ have gone a little overboard. Lucky for me, Star was not a normal Vespa, but one with a pocket dimension. It didn't matter how much stuff I had, I just had her store it.

 _What else am I spending my money on, anyway?_

After dumping another bag of goodies—some fancy chopsticks for Marie's family and a few other knickknacks I thought they might like—into Star's subspace, I sat down and pulled out my cell phone to look up a few things.

 _"You seem to be enjoying your shopping,"_ Star observed.

Squinting against the brightness of my phone—the sun had long since dropped below the horizon—I pulled up my search browser and said, "Yeah, I am. There's a lot of really nice clothes here, and some stuff to brighten up my room at the base."

Star vibrated and replied, _"I'm glad. What are you going to do next? We should move on soon."_

"Gonna find somewhere to eat. Looking up a good restaurant nearby, now. You think Jazz'll be too busy to chat with me?" I asked, glancing over at her handlebars.

 _"They . . . yes, it is highly likely he will not be able to talk,"_ Star said. It was almost as if she was carefully choosing her words, but I convinced myself I was imagining things. _"Are you sure you want to eat around here?"_

I sighed. "Yeah, he's probably busy. Anyway, I figure it'll be easier to find somewhere close to eat. Have you gotten any news? I haven't heard from him in hours."

She hesitated, then finally answered. _"They found the Decepticons and . . . tracked them down."_

"Oh. Okay. Hmm, this place seems good," I finally decided, reciting the address that Google brought up for me.

Star shuddered and I almost fell off her, earning a few strange looks from those around me. I _did_ drop my phone on the pavement, though, and I gasped.

"Woah, Star, what happened?" I asked, picking up my phone and brushing some dust off it. I checked it for any scrapes, cracks, or chips, but all was well and it was still in working condition. I was glad I'd opted for the more expensive case.

 _"It is nothing. Are you sure about that restaurant?"_ she asked.

"Why?" I wondered, my eyes narrowing as I climbed back aboard.

Her engine started and I situated myself so she could drive. _"It is a little too close to what's happening. Jazz told me to keep you safe, so . . . maybe we should go . . . to a different area now?"_

Groaning, I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath. I was already in a strange place practically alone—yes, Star was with me, but I had to do all the shopping and interacting and eating by myself—so I wanted to stick with things that were even remotely familiar. I'd already been shopping on Nanjing for hours, so it was the most familiar thing I knew in Shanghai. Now he wanted Star to cart me off to who knew where for just a quick meal? Sure, he was just looking out for my safety, but I was way out of my element and didn't want to stray too far.

"That's all fine and everything, but no. I'll be fine. They're keeping it away from the population, so there shouldn't be an issue," I rationalized.

 _"I must insist, as Jazz made it clear—"_

I cut her off. "Mr. First Lieutenant will get over it. This is _my_ vacation and I wanna eat at this place. It has high ratings and good reviews."

 _"But—"_

" _And_ ," I said loudly, "it's not too fancy so I won't look like a loser eating alone."

 _"I don't think that—"_

"Star, if you don't take me there, I'm hopping off the next time you have to stop and walking there," I threatened, sounding more and more like a petulant child.

 _"I . . . but Jazz . . . and . . . ."_

"It's fine, Star. Jazz won't be mad at you, he'll be mad at me. But he won't have anything to be mad about because I'll be fine. I know he's worried, but I don't run away because of _maybe's_."

She was silent for a suspiciously long time and I glowered at the dials. "If you just run off with me somewhere, I'm never talking to you ever again, Star."

 _"No!"_ she whined. _"I'll take you. You promise he won't be mad at me?"_

"Yes, I'll take all the blame. I did just threaten you, after all," I said with some relief. "How about this, though. I'll keep my earpiece in and chat with you for the whole dinner. If something comes up, you'll be able to tell me right away and I'll just . . . I don't know, dine and dash so we can get away or something."

When she next spoke, she sounded about as relieved as I was. _"That sounds like a fine compromise, I suppose."_

"Good. Do you know Mandarin?"

 _"I could."_

"Would you mind? I want to try to order my food in Mandarin, so I was hoping you could translate for me." The idea had only just occurred to me, and I kicked myself for not thinking of it earlier. It would have made everything so much easier while I was doing my shopping. Thankfully, I could slip through the check out process barely saying anything except to mutter what I'd come to learn meant "thank you".

Or what I _hoped_ meant "thank you".

 _"I would be happy to help."_

Nodding to myself, I thanked her and sat back to enjoy the ride. Shanghai lit up like a star at night, and I didn't want to miss the sights.

Star parked close to the restaurant and I hung out for just a second longer to ask, "Can you connect to me?"

 _"Yes,"_ her voice said through my earpiece.

"Neat! Alright, I'll try not to spend too much time in there. We still okay with the mission location?" I asked, heading inside. It was a local sit-down joint, and I already had an idea of what I wanted after viewing their website menu.

After a brief pause, Star said, _"Yes. They're still localized in the construction zone."_

"See? Nothing to worry about. Oh, hang on. I'll need you to translate real quick," I said.

I approached the hostess and remained quiet while she greeted me, returning her smile while also trying to pay attention to Star. The woman had welcomed me to the restaurant and asked for my party size. With Star's coaching, I was able to clumsily tell her that I was dining alone, and I was led away.

For some reason, though, I was seated at an occupied table. None of them looked like the locals, so they might have been other tourists. I glanced around, bewildered, but sat in the chair indicated to me and was handed a menu. None of the others paid me any mind except to glance in my general direction before returning to their conversation.

Quietly, with my hand to my ear, I asked Star what was up and she explained. _"This is normal. You don't have to talk to the others there and they likely won't try to speak with you, either. Act as if you are alone."_

"Okay, I'll try," I said as quietly as I could, turning my attention to the menu. This was one way to utilize space, I supposed. One of the guests nearest to me looked in my direction, so I indicated to my hands-free headset and they went back to their business. From what I could tell, not all of them were together.

"This is odd, but alright," I muttered, studying the menu.

I managed to make it through the meal with Star's help, and just as she'd said, the other guests at the table ignored me and I them. They didn't seem to mind me chatting with Star, either, so I eventually forgot they were even there.

We were in the middle of going over the tipping custom when Star fell silent.

"Star? Yay or nay?" I asked, stopping to thank the host and compliment the food for the umpteenth time.

Apparently, that was a thing you had to do.

I was handed the check and I gave the host my card. Star hadn't yet responded, but I was fairly certain that tipping was a thing only America did, but I still wanted the confirmation.

 _"No, no tips. Hurry, though. A Decepticon is coming this way—they're trying to intercept, and Optimus is en route,"_ she finally said.

"Ah, well. Nice of them to wait for me to finish. I'm on the way out," I muttered, feeling oddly calmer about the whole thing than I probably would have been a couple years ago.

Probably because I was just so _damn bored_ all the time.

 _Enjoy it while it lasts,_ the more cynical part of my mind pointed out. Where there were Decepticons, there was always going to be some problems.

And they probably weren't going anywhere anytime soon.

Star was waiting by the curb, already idling, and I hopped on. She waited until I was settled, then hurried through traffic.

"Don't get me pulled over, Star," I joked, clinging to her as she weaved.

 _"I merely wish to evacuate you post haste."_

I huffed. "I'm sure everything's fine. I can't even hear any explos—"

As if on cue, a loud boom sounded from the distance, followed by slight ground tremors. I grimaced and searched the sky for signs of whatever had just happened. Sure enough, smoke billowed over the buildings maybe a couple miles away, tinged orange from the flames below.

"Great. What did they blow up?"

 _"It's better ya don' ask,"_ Jazz's voice suddenly said in my ear. I hadn't even noticed the line open until that second.

Glowering at nothing, I gently touched the headset in my ear to make sure it was aligned properly and wouldn't fall out even with Star's driving. "Everything alright, Jazz?"

 _"Ye'h, e'rything good. Am I hearing Star right? Yer still at Nanjing Road?"_

"Yes. I wanted to eat at a place here."

 _"You coulda ate anywhere!"_

Lips pursed, I said, "You should probably focus on the renegade robot. Star's driving me back to base now. We'll probably take the scenic route."

 _"Yes, I will not put her in danger."_

 _"A'ight, a'ight. So long as yer not in danger I guess it ain't an issue,"_ Jazz relented. I had a sneaking suspicion that he was going to lecture me later, but I would have time to figure out a way to defuse him by the time we met up.

"You don't have to mother hen me, Jazz," I said in good nature. "I told Star I would have run out on my bill if I'd been in trouble."

He scoffed. _"I ain't being a mother hen."_

"I'll be back before you know it. Don't get hurt," I said, forcing a sternness to my voice.

 _"I never get hurt!"_

I giggled and communication cut off. Followed shortly by another, smaller explosion.

 _Great. More paperwork._

For the next handful of hours, though, I was on vacation. So, I forced the thought of all those forms I was going to have to deal with and tried to enjoy the rest of Shanghai at night.

Despite the widespread panic as people filed out of buildings and into the street, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on.

Just another day with the Autobots.


	5. Screwed Up

**Hello, readers!**

 **I'M SO SORRY. You do not deserve to wait this long for an update! I will try so hard to get chapters written up faster, I promise. I was having a crisis of discipline and inspiration, but I think I'm back on track. I've been reading the movie novelization and found what I was looking for, I guess? I don't know. Just know that I'll be working on this a little more often. Or at least trying to.**

 **Um, I didn't edit this as thoroughly as I'm used to, but I'm more confident in it than I was the last chapter. I guess I got that going for me haha. Anyway, I have three patrons for my creator's page! Tobi, Luke, and my mom. Yes, my mom haha. Anyway, if you're interested, I'm writing a novel so I made a patron page for it! My URL extension is /kaylanhodge. I have up to chapter four posted, plus a few little extra goodies! I update with new chapters and anything else on Wednesdays.**

 **Don't worry, my fan works here are still getting my attention and will always be free, posted here or on Archive. I may just post some things early on my page if I know more of my followers here are stalking it ;)**

 **Hope you enjoy the chapter! As I said, I'll try to be more diligent about posting updates!**

 **~ Crayola**

* * *

Chapter Five

Screwed Up

It was a disaster.

A giant, fucking disaster.

Shouldn't have expected anything less, really. I don't even know why I'd bothered to open up Facebook and see what was going on. NEST had a whole team dedicated to that. I didn't need to bother myself with it.

Yet, there I was.

"What did I say yesterday, Jazz?" I muttered, my hands on my head as I stared down at the pictures on my phone's screen. The evidence.

His voice replied over the radio, _"Don't destroy stuff?"_

"Don't. Destroy stuff."

 _"Ay, it ain't my fault. Ain't no one's fault! It was Sideways. He the one who went through that building! And then it was—"_

"Sideswipe did it?" I groaned, rubbing my forehead. "I swear to god, I'm gonna—"

 _"No, no, no. Side_ ways _. The Decepticon."_

I sighed. "Oh. Friggen Decepticons."

 _"You said it."_

With a huff, I put my phone to sleep and leaned back in my seat. The news reports were already everywhere; I wouldn't have to look far before I found pictures of the destruction wrought. Photos of the Autobots and Decepticons. Demolisher, even bigger than Optimus, wasn't that hard to miss. Luckily, the mission had been carried out at night and phone cameras had notoriously bad low-light functionality.

Still, it wasn't much of a consolation considering the media shit-storm that was undoubtedly about to happen. We couldn't just make up excuses forever. The Mission City cover-up was already flimsy at best—new military equipment gone haywire. A fake company and an even faker CEO.

Couldn't imagine what picture they were going to try to paint for this fiasco.

The paperwork was already flooding in. Overflow from the Shanghai government. I could already imagine the piles and piles of paper that would soon cover my desk. I had a day, maybe a week if I was lucky. _Great._

To top it all off, we lost three good men during the fight. I only knew them in passing, but the weight of it was all around, tainting the victory we had sustained. The somber atmosphere made the ride back seem like it was even longer than the ride out. I'd climbed into Jazz to escape it. That and his seats were infinitely more comfortable.

 _"Didja at least have a good time?"_ The suddenness of his question startled me.

"Yeah, I did," I said with a sigh. "Next time, though, I hope we can go on vacation together. Do _something_ together. Go racing or drive somewhere crazy. Anything."

Jazz chuckled. _"You a racing kinda girl?"_

"I mean, I could be."

 _"You got mad when I was going too fast in the states!"_ he pointed out.

I scoffed. "That's because we were on public roads in the middle of the day. You can't just go as fast as you want around citizens."

 _"I'm sure we could find something to do,"_ he assured me.

"It would just be so much easier if we didn't have to pretend you guys didn't exist," I pouted, hunching over in my seat.

 _"Ye'h, well, we gotta stay hidden, unfortunately,"_ he said, not unkindly. _"Don't gotta hide at Diego Garcia, though!"_

"Suppose," I murmured. "Better than nothing. I guess I took our road trips for granted."

 _"Well, they weren't under the best of circumstances,"_ he pointed out. _"When we kick all the Decepticon ass we can, I'll take ya on another one."_

I smiled. "That might be nice. Where would we go?"

 _"Anywhere you wanted."_

"Alright, maybe to Europe, then. We can take the autobahn. Drive as fast as you want."

 _"Aw ye'h, now yer talking!"_

The plane shook and I grabbed the wheel out of instinct, looking around. "What's going on?" I asked.

 _"We landin', just relax."_

"I am relaxed," I huffed.

Jazz made me put my seatbelt on for landing, and then we were allowed to drive out once the passengers had all unloaded first. Once we were safe on flat ground, I climbed out and grabbed my bags from Jazz's trunk. He still had a lot of my shopping spoils in there and promised to drop them off later so I could organize everything.

I felt so out of place amongst the fully-garbed military personnel. They tolerated my presence, though, as I skirted around their tarmac and tried to stay out of their way.

Jazz followed Optimus into the hangar, and a booming intercom voice summoned "the twins" to hangar three. I looked around, expecting it to be Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, but instead, I found a big, ugly, pink ice cream truck go racing by.

Looking around, I spotted Star zipping toward me and I pointed out the hideous thing and asked her, "Who's the ice cream truck?"

 _"Skids and Mudflap,"_ she responded before shifting into her bipedal form.

"But it's just one truck."

"Yes, they formed together. They're being given separate camouflage right now."

Making a face, I glanced back at the hangar but couldn't see inside. "I'm not gonna ask you to explain that one to me."

"I could if you wanted—"

"Nope, that's fine. I'm sure it's well within the realm of possibility," I said with a reassuring smile. "I kinda liked the direction they were going with the ice cream truck, though."

Star seemed taken aback by that. "Why?"

"Don't get me wrong, it would still stick out like a sore thumb because it was _too_ ugly, but you know. It was very civilian. Dirty. All I see the others in are shiny, expensive sports cars."

"Ah, I see. I shall make my appearance more grungy, too, then," Star vowed.

I giggled. "I think your scooter's fine. I meant more like Sideswipe and Sunstreaker. Did they really think that there are tons of people driving around in Lamborghinis?"

"I'm not sure what they were thinking."

Shrugging, I said, "Probably just that they looked super sweet."

"You may be right. They seem quite vain."

The loud drone of helicopter blades drowned out my comment about that being an understatement. I turned toward the noise, squinting against the afternoon sun at the oncoming bird. Military grade. Probably someone important.

"Who's that?" I asked.

Star was quiet for a moment, then said, "The others say it is someone from the Pentagon come to see Optimus and the commanding officers."

"In person?" I marveled as the helicopter landed and its single occupant was unloaded. A suit—not a militant. My interest piqued somewhat. "Must be really important. Most conferences with suits are held via like . . . military Skype."

It was particularly strange because not many people had the clearance or permission to actually _see_ any of the Autobots. Speak with them, maybe, but not see them.

My position was one of those, but I was an Autobot's plus one. That gave me certain allowances.

Major Lennox himself greeted the man, but whoever it was whisked right past him, waving a piece of paper in his general direction. The look on his face screamed contempt.

 _So this isn't a pleasure trip, then._

Lennox looked around, spotted me, then motioned with a wave for me to follow. I took stock of my surroundings, then pointed at myself; had he meant me?

He nodded.

I scrunched my face in confusion, then set my stuff down by a wall, took a mental note of where it was, then half jogged to meet up with Lennox.

"What's up? Uh, I mean, what can I do for you, sir?" We were technically on the clock.

With a smirk, he said, "At ease. Jazz is just going to tell you about this later, so why don't you come and _enjoy_ the debriefing in person?"

"Am I allowed to?"

"Like I said, Jazz is just going to tell you anyway. Guy doesn't know what 'classified' means," he chuckled, already walking toward the main hangar with me in tow.

I grimaced. "He knows, I just don't think he cares. What are you going to do, fire him?"

"You're right. Maybe I should threaten to fire you, instead."

"Hey, let's not get hasty."

Chuckling, Lennox amended, "Ah, I'm kidding. You, Sam, and Mikaela technically have higher clearance than most in the Pentagon with what you've been through. Course, you have a little higher clearance than them since you took the job."

"You guys were very convincing," I muttered. "Jazz was needed here more than he was needed in the middle of nowhere. I'm just glad you guys let me come with him."

"He would have stayed behind. It all turned out alright, though. You're a hard worker."

Smiling, I said, "Thanks. I try to pull my weight."

Lennox pat my shoulder once, then he straightened and headed toward the scaffolding stairs. "I gotta go, just hang out."

Obediently, I stood off to the side until I spotted Jazz with a bunch of other familiarly unmanned vehicles. I glanced around, then wove my way through the cluttered hangar to stand next to him, careful to avoid impeding anyone or tripping over thick wires. Star was with them, having reverted back to her familiar vending machine form.

 _"'Ey little miss. You good?_ " Jazz asked.

I nodded and sat on his hood. "Yup. Lennox invited me to the debrief."

 _"A'ight. Some stuffy suit showed up."_

"I saw."

Optimus pulled up while Lennox was greeting Admiral Morshower. I'd never met the guy in person, but he'd been on the panel for my hiring and background checks. The acoustics in the hangar were good enough that I could hear Lennox's crisp, all-business speech.

"Something came up near the conclusion of the Shanghai op that requires an immediate debrief. We didn't want to entrust it to normal channels, encrypted or not," Lennox said, standing at ease in front of the monitor. "With your permission, I'd like for you to hear it from the Autobot leader himself."

"Proceed." The admiral's voice was projected out from several speakers.

The suit gasped as Optimus began his seamless conversion from semi-truck to towering metal man. It was loud enough to draw my attention, and he stepped back as if afraid of being stepped on. Epps offered him some words, and his expression was amused. Smug, even.

I couldn't blame the new guy. It was a bit . . . intimidating, watching it happen for the first time. He should count his lucky stars that it wasn't happening because he was under attack.

By an angry cop car.

"Do you know who that guy is?" I asked Jazz, keeping my voice quiet.

He vibrated and said, _"Some guy named Galloway. Guess he's here on urgent business from ya president or somethin'. Dunno what he wants, though."_

"Ah."

I had a feeling it had something to do with all the collateral damage and causalities. If I didn't like filling out those forms, I couldn't imagine how the brass felt about receiving them and then actually fulfilling the approved ones.

Optimus was speaking. I'd missed the first bit. "This last Decepticon incursion came with a warning."

He played back a recording of the deep, metallic gurgle of a dying Decepticon. _"The Fallen—shall rise—again!"_ It echoed through the hangar until someone spoke.

"The fallen . . . what?" Morshower asked.

"We do not know, sir," Optimus admitted. "It hints at something from our past, but our history was one of the many things lost with the destruction of our Allspark."

Finally, our visitor spoke. "You also thought your enemies would leave the planet when it was destroyed. You were wrong. As of this year alone, you were wrong _six times_. Clearly, there must be something _else_ they're here for."

Lennox made a motion with his hand to introduce the man. "Optimus, this is Director Galloway, the national security advisor. The president just appointed him liaison."

Optimus and others eyed him without words.

"Sorry for the interruption, Admiral," Galloway said, an edge to his voice as if he wasn't sorry at all. "But with all the damage and subsequent expense for cover-up, I'm hard-pressed to say that the job here is getting done."

His attention turned to Optimus. "Under the classified Alien/Autobot Cooperation Act, you've agreed to share your intelligence with us, yes?"

That earned a silent nod.

"But _not_ your weapons and technology? Those advancements would help us deal with the Decepticon threat ourselves. Advancements, need I spell it out for you, that could prevent the loss of human life."

"We have seen humans' capacity for war. Releasing this information to you would cause more harm than good," Optimus pointed out.

Despite Optimus' intimidating visage, Galloway didn't waver or back down. "That is not for you to decide. Not when your _own_ war caused the destruction of your entire planet!"

Jazz shook with surprised anger and I pat his hood with my palm. "Easy."

Galloway continued. "Need I remind you that you and your kind are here on _our_ planet as guests?"

"We have placed the remaining shard of the Allspark under your supervision and safekeeping, Director. We cannot offer any greater gesture of our cooperation," Optimus intoned.

Lennox spoke up. "Sir, we've been fighting alongside the Autobots in the field for two years now . . . ."

Epps joined in to stand up for the Autobots, as well. "Shedding precious blood, sweat, and oil together!"

". . . and they have never once given us reason to doubt their loyalty or their alliance with us," Lennox finished, casting his friend a sidelong glance.

I couldn't tell if Galloway cared or even heard them. "And what of these newest members? The ones that came here because of a message you sent offering asylum on _our_ planet? None of them have been vetted by the White House or the United Nations or anyone of autho—"

"I'm going to stop you right there, Director Galloway," Admiral Morshower interrupted. "The vetting process was done right here on Diego Garcia."

"Oh really? By whom?" His incredulity was palpable.

"By Major Lennox and his staff."

The director scoffed and glanced in Lennox's direction. "By Major Lennox and his staff. I had no idea that such authority to make a planet-affecting decision had been so delegated."

"The judgment of Major Lennox and his team has always been above reproach. Both on the field and in discussions. Their decisions have always been proven to be the correct ones," Morshower insisted. I wished I could see his face.

Galloway gave a curt nod. "It is the position of the president that when it comes to national and planetary security, _no one_ is above reproach."

Jazz was growing more and more irritated, and I could tell the others were as well. They were idling roughly, rocking like my old car had when it was having engine troubles. I shifted uncomfortably, not sure how I felt. On the one hand, the Autobots and even most of the personnel at the base were far removed from the damage produced by the Autobots and Decepticons. I would have been, too, if it wasn't for the fact that I _had_ to be aware of it to do my job. They finished their mission, pat each other on the backs, then moved on with their lives—unless there were those killed in action.

Part of me understood, though. War wasn't pretty or fair. They had to be removed to continue doing their jobs. A practically thankless one, since the general public wasn't allowed to know the truth.

Still—I had to look at the paperwork declaring all the homes that had been destroyed. Lives lost. They suffered when one of their own was killed in battle, but the whole world was suffering. I could understand Galloway bringing up their technology and questioning their methods. Hell, _I_ had been questioning their methods earlier when I'd told Jazz not to destroy anything.

The Autobots and the rest of NEST did their best, but the Decepticons were winning in the body count.

By a long shot.

"Let me make sure I have this straight," Director Galloway was saying, "the Decepticons stole back their leader's corpse when one of them raided the old Sector Seven base in the Hoover Dam, yes? And the last remaining piece of the Allspark is locked away in a special vault here, yes?"

Lennox nodded. "That is correct."

"Then what is left on the planet for the Decepticons? What is it that they're after if they have their leader and they can't get their hands on the Allspark?" he demanded.

When no one answered, he provided one. "It must be _you._ The Autobots. They remain here to hunt _you_. Can you prove to me that they're not? I'll bet that so long as you remain here on Earth, they will as well. This warning sounds like they're coming with something new. Something unknown."

He let that sink in and waited. When no one said anything else—and what could they say? They had no proof that what he was saying wasn't true—he continued his might have been a diplomatic envoy, but that's what he was doing. Ranting. Diplomacy had been tossed out long ago and all attempts at ceremony forgotten.

"Let me ask you one last question on behalf of the president, the United Nations, and everyone else. If we ultimately conclude that our security is best served by no longer offering you further asylum on the planet, will you leave? _Peacefully_?"

My stomach clenched painfully and I jumped to my feet. "They can't _leave_!" The words were out of my mouth before I even realized I'd said them.

I gasped and put a hand over my mouth. I was supposed to just be standing quietly, not participating. If anything, I was nothing more than a glorified guest. However, the look on everyone else's face told me they were all having similar thoughts.

Didn't make me feel any less humiliated.

Galloway's eyes narrowed and he pointed at me. "Who are you? Who is she?"

"That's Kathryn Walker, our on-sight foreign claims adjuster," Lennox said, frowning at me. I hunched my shoulders and gave him a sheepish, apologetic look.

"Why do you need an on-sight foreign claim adjuster?"

"She's a good friend of the Autobot's first lieutenant, Jazz," Epps explained, sounding a little defensive on my behalf. I didn't blame him after the reaming Galloway had given them. "She's a friend to all of us, really. Hard worker, trustworthy."

The director cut him off with a gesture. "That's nice. She's allowed to be in here?"

"Yes," Lennox said.

I was probably red as a strawberry. I could feel it in my face and all I wanted to do was shrink down and disappear. I hadn't meant to interrupt, but the thought of them chasing away the Autobots . . . chasing away _Jazz_. . . . I'd lost my composure. It seemed to have lightened Jazz's mood, at least. I could hear him stifling his laughter. I kicked the underside of his bumper with my heel, but that only seemed to make him shake harder with his held back guffaws.

Optimus brought the conversation back on track. "To answer your question, Director Galloway."

He successfully drew Galloway off of me and I relaxed somewhat. However, I expected Lennox to give me an earful about my outburst later.

 _Unless I sneak out now . . . ._

"Such a freedom is your right. It is not in our nature to impose our presence on those who do not wish it. However, before your leaders decide on such a thing, please ask them this," Optimus implored.

Galloway waited.

"What if we leave—and you are wrong?"

They digested that ominous query while Optimus excused himself. He stepped away and transformed back into his semi-truck form and sat idly.

"You guys can't leave," I said, turning to Jazz. "Even if they ask, you can't just . . . you shouldn't . . . ."

 _"Relax, little miss. We ain't goin nowhere right now."_

"Not _now,_ but what if they—"

He cut me off with a gentle nudge to the back of my legs with his front bumper. _"Relax. They ain't gonna send us away. Not unless they really sure Decepticons would go, too."_

I huffed and crossed my arms. "They won't go."

 _"Maybe not."_

Shaking my head, I clarified. "No, they won't. They'll enslave us or try to harvest our planet's resources to try and bolster their forces. Star and everything my dad worked on is proof that it's possible."

 _"Not without the Allspark it ain't."_

That took the wind from my sails somewhat. "I—yeah, yeah I guess so. Unless they find some new way to do it."

 _"I doubt that,"_ Ratchet chimed in. _"The Allspark was the only thing that could create life. That, and there wouldn't be enough Energon on your planet."_

"You can't just, like, make test tube babies?" I asked. It felt really ignorant asking, but I _was_ ignorant. "You're basically just machines, right? What's keeping you from just building more Cybertronians?"

 _"We can't without enough Energon and energy. There were ways to synthesize it on Cybertron, but supplies are nearly nonexistent here on Earth."_

Well, at least he didn't sound insulted. It was a big issue on Earth, but apparently, they didn't have the same hang-ups of "playing God" as we did. Of course, we were but a blip on the timeline compared to their history, and we had a perfectly fine way to create life—and no threat of extinction.

We left the conversation at that and Jazz walked—or, rolled—me out. _Before_ Lennox could come and chastise me. It wasn't like I'd done it on purpose.

 _"I ain't going nowhere, little miss,"_ he said once we were out in the open. _"I promise."_

"But if you guys get kicked off the planet—"

 _"Don't matter. I'd stay."_

My face burned and I looked away while trying to stifle a smile. "Well, good. I'd miss you too much if you just up and left me like that."

 _"I'll never leave ya. Yer stuck with me, little miss!"_

"Oh no, whatever will I do?"

I could pretend for a second, just a second, that it wouldn't be a terrible idea for him to stay. But if we told them to pack up and leave, it would be a bad idea. He'd be no better than an invader, trespassing on the planet. For his days on Earth, he'd be stuck in his vehicle mode most of the time, hiding and hoping he wouldn't be discovered.

Away from his comrades.

A more morbid part of my brain reminded me that he was long-lived. What was left of my life would be nothing more than a blink of an eye. Would it be so terrible to ask him for those few minutes of his time?

"Kathryn!"

Expecting it to be Lennox, I flinched and turned around slowly. However, it was just Star coming toward me. She didn't even sound anything like Lennox, so I don't know why I was worried. In her arms was my luggage from the trip.

"Oh, my stuff," I said, meeting her halfway and taking the bag from her. "I completely forgot."

"I thought maybe you would."

 _"You still forgettin' stuff, little miss?"_ Jazz asked, spinning around with a screech of his tires.

Grimacing, I nodded. "Sometimes. The doctor said I probably would. It's no big deal," I assured him while popping out the handle in the luggage. It was much easier to drag it around than it was to carry it.

 _"Ye'h, I guess."_

"I'm fine. It doesn't happen very often. Just little things, mostly. Nothing huge or anything," I said with a smile.

Star chimed in, "Except I had to wake you up. You almost missed the plane to Shanghai with everyone if Jazz hadn't sent me to pick you up."

I turned a chagrined look to Star. "Thanks, Star."

Misinterpreting my tone, she said, "You're welcome. It was no issue for me at all."

 _"Didja dump the water on her?"_

The little Autobot looked taken aback. "Was that what I was supposed to do with that bucket of water you gave me?"

Internalizing a groan, I heaved my things and said, " _Okay,_ well, if you don't mind, I'm gonna go lay low until Lennox forgets about me and that whole thing back there. I gotta unpack and sort my stuff, anyway."

Jazz idled beside me, rolling forward at my pace. _"You wanna hang out after?"_

"Yeah, course I do. After I get something to eat."

 _"A'ight! Optimus'll wanna have a chat with us 'bout what just happened, anyway."_

"I'm sure he probably does," I sighed. "He really got the third degree from that Gallows guy."

Star corrected, "Galloway."

"Yeah, him. Anyway, I'll see you guys later."

We exchanged farewells and I watched Star shift into her Vespa shape before she hurried off. Jazz lingered behind and I smiled over at him.

"I'm glad you guys include her in your reindeer games," I teased, tapping his bumper with the toe of my shoe.

 _"E'ryone deserves a chance. I'll drop yer stuff off then join the others. Hit me up when you ready to do somethin'."_

"I will. Have a good meeting," I said, unloading my shopping bags from his trunk.

His only response was a non-committal backfiring sound—a scoff—before he turned tail and zipped away. I watched him go, shook my head, then disappeared inside the main building where my quarters were.


	6. No Rest for the Wicked

**Hello, readers!**

 **Got the chapter done, finally! Hopefully, it was worth the wait! Kind of a longer one, I think? I don't know. Anyway, I posted this chapter a little bit ago on my patron creator page, so y'all can read the first draft there if you want! I'd link, but you know how fanfiction is about their links. Just go to the website and my URL is /kaylanhodge.**

 **I'm rotating posting chapters of this and Ask Not the Sparrow, so the next chapter won't be until I finish the one I'm working on for that fic. But don't worry, I'm hoping that they'll be pretty regular! Maybe two a month. I don't know, I might just be being hopeful but whatever I'll do my best lol. First drafts will always be posted to my creator page, and they'll go public after three days! I've also got almost 10 chapters of my original story posted.**

 **Thanks to those who have become patrons so far - Toby, Luke, and Tonya!**

 **~ Crayola**

* * *

Chapter Six

No Rest for the Wicked

I awoke that night to the frantic sound of klaxons blaring inside my room. It was enough to make me jolt awake and crawl backward, searching the room frantically for any sign of danger. My blankets tangled around my limbs, and as I attempted to flee from my bed, I fell flat on my shoulder with a pained groan.

Squinting in the dark, my eyes still heavy and scratchy from sleep, I kicked off my blankets. Once I was free, I left the light comforter bundled up on the floor and left my room.

Not bothering with shoes or even proper clothes, I headed out into the hallway wearing only a pair of boyshorts and a skin-tight cami, blinking through the floodlights that had turned on at the same time as the alarms. They were still blaring throughout the whole compound and I was certain I was going to go deaf.

A crab found its way underneath me and I screeched in equal parts pain and surprise when I stepped on it, dancing toward the wall to flatten myself against it.

"Ugh, sorry," I muttered, spending half a second to make sure the stupid thing was okay.

Its wicked little pincers were up and ready for a fight, so I assumed I hadn't hurt it too badly. Rolling my eyes, I told it, "Well, don't come inside!" and headed outside to see what all the hullabaloo was about.

Why I'd been woken up in the middle of the night.

Part of me was pissed that they'd hold a drill at such an hour, but the less sleepy part of me knew it wouldn't be much of a drill if it happened when everyone was ready for it. Still, a little bit of a warning would have been nice. A simple "hey, sometime tomorrow we'll be having a fire drill."

 _Oh well._

All I could do was stumble through the halls and try to remember where I was supposed to go. Especially since there were two places, and I wasn't sure which was right; there was the place the brass wanted me to go, and then there was the spot Jazz wanted to meet me.

It was all very confusing at four in the freaking morning.

In the end, when I discovered that there was no one in the NEST-sanctioned fire meeting place, I went to the Jazz-sanctioned one. I didn't get halfway there before I saw him speeding toward me on the tarmac.

 _Thank god. I'm too tired to walk._

He shifted right before hitting me and I yawned, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes. There had been a time when his antics scared the ever-living shit out of me, but I'd since grown used to it and didn't so much as blink anymore unless he caught me off guard.

"Kat, you okay?" he asked, plucking me up to sit on his forearm, my back to his chest.

"Jus' tired," I mumbled, trying to make myself comfy. "Wake me when the fire drill's over. Or jus' lemme sleep here, I don' care."

Too tired even to speak properly.

Jazz's chest rumbled against me and he shifted his hold until I was eye-to-eye to him. Some of the grogginess left when I noticed the serious look on his faceplates.

"Little miss, this ain't no fire drill."

"Then what kinda drill is it?"

"Ain't no kinda drill! The Decepticons infiltrated the base and stole our Shard!"

Eyes half-lidded, I stared at him, trying to judge if he was playing some sort of prank on me—at four in the god damn morning!—but there was no mirth in those blue optics. No stifled laughs in his vocal processor.

All at once, I was very much awake. I twisted around to look at the base: alive with men shouting and Autobots in full bipedal mode running about.

My eyes widened and the color drained from my face.

 _This was supposed to be a_ safe _place!_

"What? Are they still here? Which Decepticons? Where did they come from?" I bombarded him with questions, clutching at any piece of him I could get my hands on, trying desperately to make sure I was secure.

He made a shushing sound and cupped his free hand over me. Like I was his frightened pet hamster. "It's alright, little miss. They already left. It was Soundwave's cassette, Ravage, and a buncha Insecticons. They're really small, so they were able to sneak in undetected on the other side of the island."

"I only understood half of that. But you guys weren't monitoring the vault yourselves?" I asked, bewildered.

Jazz shook his head. "Y'all said you could handle it, so we was lettin' y'all handle it! We can all see where that's gotten us now, though."

"What are you guys going to do?"

"Dunno. Optimus sent both sets of twins to check the island to see if there's any trace of 'em left, then I'm sure he'll call us together to talk about our options with Lennox and them."

That was going to be a fun meeting for everyone involved. Far as I knew, Galloway was still on the island. He was going to get an earful from one of the Autobots about this whole fiasco, I was certain. Especially since they'd insisted they protect it over the Autobots. Unless Optimus told them not to.

With a sigh, I asked, "Did anyone get hurt?"

"Ye'h," Jazz muttered. "Lost a couple soldiers."

"Oh no."

"If they hadn't set off the alarms, I'm sure Ravage and the Insecticons woulda left without incident," he continued.

Deciding to take the conversation off more of our lost men, I said, "You mentioned them before, and something about a cassette. What are you talking about?"

"Ravage is like Frenzy. A symbiote. They're part of someone bigger, like Barricade or Soundwave, but they're also independent," he explained. "The Insecticons are just that. Teeny little pests that cause a whole lotta trouble."

 _Simple enough._

He continued. "If Soundwave's around, communication just got a whole lot more complicated. He can listen in t'almost anythin'. We gon' have to be way more careful."

"Someone's going to have to tell Sam and Mikaela," I said through a yawn.

 _Probably me._

Jazz glanced down at me and asked, "You think they chattin' bout classified stuff?"

I shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not, Mikaela's got a good head and Sam's not _that_ stupid. Morshower told them all about unsecured lines and national secrets and all that. Just thinking maybe they'd want to know."

"Well, if you wanna tell 'em, I don' see why not. Just gotta be crafty 'bout it."

"Yeah. Now, can I go back to bed?"

The alarms had stopped blaring, so I figured it was as good a time as any to try and get some more sleep. I was really feeling the jetlag from the day trip to Shanghai.

Chuckling, Jazz began walking me over to the barracks. "Ye'h, ye'h. Poor sleepy little miss."

"I am sleepy. It's the middle of the night!"

"Aight, aight. We'll getcha back in bed. Hold your—" He stopped talking and walking and I knew that could only mean that he was receiving orders.

His expression told me all I needed to know.

"I'm not going back to bed, am I?"

Huffing, he turned and headed toward the hangar instead. "'Fraid not. Not yet, anyway. Optimus wants to see us, and he told me t'bring you."

"Why-y-y?" I groaned.

"Dunno. Said he needed you."

"Tell him to wait until morning!"

He shook his head. "You don't just make Optimus wait. I'm sure it won't take long. And it is morning."

Holding tightly onto him, I whined loudly. "But Ja-a-azz! I'm t-i-i-ired!" My dramatics were complete with a bout of pitiful whimpering noises.

All he did was laugh. "You always so whiny when you sleepy! Like a baby!"

"Wah!"

Jazz continued to tease me until we were in the hangar, then he started to lean over to let me down, but I clung to him and refused to be put down.

"Hey, Jazz got his cling-on with him!" Sideways remarked as he and Sunstreaker entered—returning from their perimeter check. The other two twins hadn't shown up yet, so I supposed they were on the far side of the island.

I just ignored him. I was too tired to deal with his teasing and normally harmless ribbing.

"Yes, I asked him to bring her," Optimus said, walking into the hangar with Ironhide following closely behind him. The other set of twins came in after him.

"Find anything?" Jazz asked them.

They shook their heads in perfect unison. "Uh, no! Not a thing! They gone without a trace, yo," Mudflap said.

Skids chimed in. "No damn trace! Swam off into the ocean or something! Crazy motherfuckers! Ain't gonna find me going for no damn swim this late. Sharks in there!"

"Hey!" Jazz chided, turning away and cupping his arms over me. "We got sensitive ears here."

Frowning, I said, "I'm an adult, not a child."

"I ain't never heard you swear, little miss."

"My parents were super against it and then I can't swear while I'm at work so I just never picked up the habit," I muttered, wondering why I had to explain my vocabulary to a robot.

At _four_ in the god damn _morning!_

Optimus cleared his throat—or made a similar sound since he technically had no biological need to do so—and rescued me from any more remarks about my manner of speaking.

"Sorry, Prime."

The Autobot leader looked to me. "I know we're keeping you awake, Kathryn, and I apologize. I will try to make this quick, but I'm afraid that I may need you."

"Why?" I asked, rubbing my eyes to try to wake up more. If Optimus needed something, it had to be serious.

"I wish to rally our human allies, including you, Mikaela Banes, and Sam Witwicky. Major Lennox and his team will be escorting us to the United States. I wish for you to accompany us and help me speak with those two," he explained after leaning down to my level—which, thankfully, was higher than normal since Jazz was carrying me.

When I opened my mouth to agree, I closed it again and thought about it. Another trip so soon would just exhaust me, but it was to the States! I hadn't been to my home country in a couple of years since I'd moved to the base.

I decided to stall while I debated with myself.

"Rally us for what?"

"As you are likely aware, the Allspark shard was stolen out from under your militia. It was our best show of goodwill to the humans," he elaborated with a nod. "If you and the others who have known us intimately will speak on our behalf, I believe we can quell any fears your leaders have."

Putting it like that, I would be a real asshole to deny his request. I said, "Um, yeah, okay, sure. I don't know how convincing I'll be, but we can try. When are we leaving?"

"As soon as your planes can be ready. We were planning to leave in a few days' time to pick up Bumblebee, but I fear time may be running out after this new Decepticon attack," Optimus said, his tone grave.

It took every ounce of self-control I had not to scream out in despair. Jazz made a preemptive noise of reassurance and gently pat me on the head.

"Maybe we can take a detour after your mission with Optimus and go visit your friend! What's her name?" he said.

"Marie."

"Yeah! Maybe you can visit her after and deliver the presents ya got in person."

Sighing, I sagged in defeat. "Yeah, I suppose so."

"Would save ya on shipping costs!"

"What would you know about shipping costs?" I ribbed.

Optimus put himself back in our conversation. "Please prepare and be ready to leave as soon as possible, Kathryn."

He always had a way of making me feel like a chagrined child with my hand in the cookie jar. Jazz and I tended to get carried away with our banter, and we'd gone and ignored Optimus again. I gave him an apologetic look, but he only seemed mildly amused—maybe a smidgen annoyed—but not angry.

"Yes, sir. I'll be ready post haste."

"Excellent. Jazz, Sideswipe, Sunstreaker, and Ratchet will be coming for this. Ironhide will remain behind with the rest to make sure the island is safe from any other Decepticon attacks," Optimus announced, turning to look at each named 'Bot in turn.

All of them nodded and said in unison, "Yes, Optimus."

Well—except Sideswipe. His call of "Sure thing, boss!" almost drowned out his comrades.

Upon patting his arm to catch his attention, Jazz glanced down at me and said, "What up, little miss? You ready to go get yer stuff?"

"Yup, I guess so." Under my breath, I added, "Rather be asleep, though."

Jazz chuckled and then turned to Optimus. "Are we dismissed?"

The Autobot leader nodded. "Yes, dismissed."

As we left the hangar, Jazz leaned in and whispered to me, "Quick, get a nap in while I walk ya to the buildin'!"

Giggling, I did my best to follow his advice. The gentle rocking of his walking was a great soother, but his metal arms weren't exactly a luxury bed. Still, I think I nodded off for a moment or two because the next thing I knew, Jazz was setting me on my feet.

"Here ya are, little miss."

A big yawn kept me from replying anything coherent, though I tried my best.

Jazz chuckled. "Whazzat?"

"I said thanks, I'll be right out."

"If you say so."

Sighing, I made a dismissive gesture and went inside, winding my way through the hallway until I made it to my room—this time without almost murdering a crab with my bare feet. The floor was cold on my toes, so I tried to keep my steps light as I went along.

Without much urgency due to being so exhausted, I put on some real clothes and shoes—I was too tired to even realize I'd been running around half-naked—and gathered up the things I'd bought for Marie as well as my bag from Shanghai. I hadn't even unpacked yet. The stuff couldn't be that dirty (I'd kind of over packed), and I figured no one would notice or care. In fact, I didn't even know how long we were going to be spending in the states, anyway.

 _Maybe I shouldn't even bring anything._

Though, Jazz had said that we might be able to road trip back home to see Marie in person. How much of that was wishful thinking I wasn't sure, but maybe it would make sense to pack something. It would just sit in his pocket dimension until I needed it, anyway.

After yawning for a ridiculously long time, I just stuffed a few more things in my suitcase and zipped it up.

 _Wonder if they'll notice if I take another nap._

As if reading my mind, I could hear Jazz's faint voice calling out to me from somewhere. I looked around, certain I had imagined it until my eyes fell on the little earpiece he'd given me. It couldn't have come from anywhere else unless we'd suddenly become telepathically linked.

"That you?" I asked once the device was in my ear.

"Ye'h! You fall asleep or are ya comin' out?"

Taking one last longing look at my bed, I groaned and stood up. "I'm coming . . . I'm coming . . . ."

I was like a zombie stumbling through the halls. My fatigue was at an all-time high with all this going on, but I made it outside without collapsing and Jazz was waiting for me, sitting in his Solstice form with the trunk already open.

 _"Dump ya things and hop in,"_ he said.

"Mmkay," I muttered, heaving the suitcase up and inside. I stacked the bag of goodies for Marie next to it and Jazz's trunk closed seemingly of its own accord.

As I climbed into the driver's seat, Jazz remarked, _"You look terrible. Why don't you stay in here and rest?"_

His seats couldn't really recline, but he readjusted the center console so I could lay across both front seats if I wanted to. It was a lot better than trying to sleep with a set of cup holders digging into my hips.

"Yeah, I think I will," I murmured, curling up into some semblance of a comfortable position. Jazz turned up the heat to a relaxing level and headed for the tarmac.

Before I could ask how long _this_ flight was going to take, Jazz read my mind and told me.

 _"Gon' be a little more'n a day a'fore we land at our destination."_

"A _day_?" I repeated, propping myself up in horror. "As in, 24 hours? As in, a whole _day_ day?"

He buzzed his radio in affirmation.

I dropped face-first into his seat and let out a forlorn groan. It was bad enough being stuck in that cargo plane for as long as I had been during the Shanghai trip, but that was going to seem like a luxury cruise line compared to this one.

 _"That's even goin' as fast as possible,"_ he continued. _"Pr'y gonna need to stop'n refuel at some point. You can get out and stretch when we do that!"_

"Ugh! I'll just sleep through the whole trip," I muttered, turning so I was facing the back of the seat instead of the center console. I closed my eyes tight and tried to will myself back into slumber. This new development had me feeling more wide awake than ever before, though.

Jazz snickered. _"If ya wanna."_

Sighing, I rolled back over and sat up to peer out the window. Everyone was waiting for the plane to be prepped so they could load up. I did my best not to look at the digital clock on the radio, lest it only make me more upset.

"What time is it in Nevada?" I asked, rubbing my eyes.

After a pause, Jazz replied, _"Almost five PM. Why?"_

I took my cell phone out of my pocket and scrolled through my contact list until I found Mikaela's number. I thought about calling Sam, first, but I didn't really want to talk to him that much. We didn't really get along that well, even after everything.

He was kind of like the annoying brother I never had nor wanted.

So, I just hit the call button for his girlfriend and waited for her to pick up. "Just gonna call Mikaela and tell her what's going on. All secretive like," I explained to Jazz.

 _"I'll secure your line, doncha worry."_

As the ringer started, I nodded wordlessly. It went on for three or four chimes before Mikaela finally picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Mikaela?"

"This is she."

It wasn't as if I already knew that; I just went on auto phone etiquette no matter who I was calling. "It's Kathryn," I said. Her caller ID should have told her so much, but there I was, explaining myself anyway out of habit more than anything else.

"Yeah, hey Kat! What's up?" she asked. In the background, I could hear power tools and idling engines.

Following my gut, I asked, "Are you in your dad's shop?"

"Uh, yeah. Is it loud? Sorry."

Even though she couldn't see, I shook my head. "Not too loud, I could just hear it. Shouldn't you guys have closed up for the day?"

"We closed a few minutes ago," she said. "I'm just finishing up some detailing work real quick."

"Is there anyone who could overhear you?"

A heavy silence fell over the line—well, except for the white noise in her shop. After a long pause, Mikaela finally spoke. "No. My man-child father is playing video games. Only one in here with me is the dog."

I hummed in thought. "I don't know, that sounds pretty suspicious to me."

She chuckled and said, "Don't worry, I vouch for him. Did something happen? With the you-know-whos?"

Biting my lip, I glanced at Jazz's radio.

 _"Yer all set. Soundwave ain't getting' past me so long as I keep paying attention."_

"Uh, yeah it kinda does. The Shard was stolen a little while ago. Everyone's scrambling now."

"What? That's terrible! How? Can you talk on this line?"

"Yeah, Jazz is running interference," I assured her. "I don't know all the details, just that some small Decepticons snuck onto the island. A team, including me, is actually heading to the states now to meet up with you guys."

Mikaela was quiet as if that had taken her by surprise. When she recovered, she said, "You mean . . . Sam and I?"

"Yup. Did Sam leave for school, yet?"

"A couple days ago, yeah. When are you guys going to arrive?" she asked.

"I'm not sure. I don't even know which base we're landing in. We were going to meet with Bumblebee, I guess. Optimus really wants to speak with Sam, something about needing more humans to vouch for the Autobots now that the Shard is gone."

My fatigue was starting to set back in and I yawned.

"Well, I have a Skype date with him tonight. I'll try to tell him what's going on then unless you want to call him."

A little too quickly, I said, "No, no. It'll be fine if you tell him. I don't want to interrupt any like . . . studying or unpacking he might be doing."

For some reason, I didn't expect Sam to actually be the studying type, but I barely knew the guy.

"Okay, sure thing. It's not a very long flight, so I'll book a ticket for the following morning and meet you guys there," she offered. The faint sound of keys clicking came to my ear.

I nodded. "Alright. I'll pick you up at the airport, just text me which one and the arrival time."

"Great."

Something hit me just then and I said, "Speaking of Bumblebee, why are we coming to pick him up? Did he and Sam get into some sort of fight or something?"

Mikaela sighed. "No, not really. Well . . . kinda. Mostly, though, it's that Sam's school doesn't let freshmen have cars or something. So he set Bee free."

"That's a weird rule," I remarked.

"You're telling me."

"But they had a kind of falling out?" I pressed. I wasn't trying to be nosy, I just wanted to make sure Bee was okay.

There was a brief pause, then Mikaela asked, "This line is definitely secure?"

"Yeah. I told you, Jazz is running interference."

He piped up, _"I gotcha!"_ loud enough for her to hear.

"Well, Sam found a sliver of the cube in his old ratty war jacket and it brought a bunch of his appliances to life and they kinda went on a rampage. Bee destroyed some of the house and yard while protecting Sam and his family."

"Jeez . . . ."

"It's alright, though," Mikaela assured me. "No one was hurt except for the appliance bots and part of the house. They're certain the government will pay for it."

 _Great. More paperwork for me._

"And the sliver?" I asked in a hushed tone.

 _"Wha' sliver?"_ Jazz interjected.

I put up a finger to tell him to wait and I listened to Mikaela. "I have it. It's locked up. I'll bring it with me when I come to meet you guys and hand it over."

"That's crazy, though. At least we'll have something, then. Maybe Optimus will be happy," I sighed.

"Maybe."

Jazz beeped his horn and I glanced out the windshield. "Looks like they finished fueling the plane. I'll let you go so I can fill Jazz in," I said to Mikaela.

"Sounds good, Kat. I'll see you soon."

"Yup! Be safe. Bye."

"I will, don't worry. Buh-bye!"

The line went dead and I put away my cell, then stretched my arms over my head and groaned. Jazz was quiet, but I could feel him staring at me even if he didn't have a face right then. So, once I'd stretched it all out, I filled him in on what Mikaela had told me.

 _"A sliver of the Cube, eh? She's bringing it with her?"_

"Yup," I said. "She plans to hand it over, so no worries. It'll be in good hands until then. Mikaela's smart."

 _"I'm not worried. The Decepticons shouldn't know about that one yet and ain't no one getting' past me when I'm on my A game. You gonna go t'sleep now?"_ Jazz asked.

"I'm gonna try. Wake me if I'm needed for anything. Is Star coming?" I asked suddenly, looking around.

 _"Ye'h, she already on the plane. I'll tell her you said hi."_

"Okay."

He turned on some faint, gentle music and I curled up in his seats, doing what I could to make the best of the tight space in his cab. Finally, as Jazz rolled up into the cargo plane, I was able to catch an elusive nap.


	7. Won't be Told

**Hello, readers!**

 **I'm sorry about the long wait. Trying to balance being a new mom with work and my writing projects on top of finding time to spend with my husband during the few precious hours he's not at work or sleeping has been a trial. Kassie is a bit older now, though, and things are getting easier. I'm starting to get into the groove of things. Your patience and continued support mean the world to me, though. :)**

 **I hope the next chapter won't take too long. I have to revise more chapters of Nightmare, then update Sparrow, and then it's back to this fic. That's going to be the order, I think. You can always follow me on Twitter at Imagine Kayla if you wanna see what I'm up to in the meantime! Always keep an eye on my Patron, too, at Kayla N Hodge. I posted the first draft of this chapter when I finished it, so you can always read my fic chapters early!**

 **Anyway, special thanks to Toby and Tonya for their continued patronage!**

 **~ Crayola**

* * *

Chapter Seven

Won't be Told

 _"Are you ready to leave, Kathryn?"_

"As I'll ever be."

Optimus opened his door and I climbed inside, hesitating just long enough to look over my shoulder at Jazz. The spotlights from the base glinted off his hood and made me squint—we'd arrived sometime in the middle of the night, thanks to all the time zone changes. I was going to be in a constant state of jet lag by the time I returned to my routine. I just knew it.

 _"We'll be right behind ya, don'tcha worry little miss. I'll keep yo stuff safe, too."_

I smiled and nodded, then took a seat on the driver's side so Optimus wouldn't have to bother with a hologram. It wasn't going to be a particularly long drive since Princeton University was a stone's throw away from the National Guard base in New Jersey—if the stone had thrusters attached.

Still, a couple of hours wasn't really that long in the grand scheme of things. Just a long time hanging out with an Autobot that I didn't normally spend that much time with.

At least it wasn't Sideswipe.

No, it had been decided at the last second that he and Sunstreaker would trade places with Mudflap and Skids. Ironhide himself had asked for the change. Something about letting them earn some experience being with humans for a little while. If anyone bothered to ask me, I would have guessed that Ironhide just didn't want to deal with them.

It seemed to me like no one did. I couldn't imagine why; they were just a little loud. Kind of crude, but they weren't _that_ much worse than Sideswipe.

But what did I know? I'd only met them long enough to learn their names.

 _"Seatbelt, please."_

"I'm getting to it . . . ," I muttered with a disgruntled huff, clicking everything into place. Once I was set, Optimus rolled out and we were on our way to Princeton, New Jersey. I'd thought that Sam was attending Brown University, but apparently, I'd just been remembering wrong. Like I always did.

 _Whatever. All those fancy schools are the same, anyway._

Optimus suddenly announced, _"We will arrive by daybreak."_

"What's the game plan?" I asked.

 _"Bumblebee will meet us at an isolated location with Sam. I will ask him to come back with us and speak with your leaders alongside you and Mikaela,"_ he replied.

"What if he refuses?"

 _"I sincerely hope that he doesn't."_

That seemed ominous enough to leave on and I sat back against the seat, meddling with my phone and texting with Marie. Or, rather, texting _to_ Marie since she still wasn't up yet. All I wanted her to know was that I'd landed in the States and was thinking about visiting.

To my surprise, there was an unread message from Mikaela waiting for me. She rarely texted me, and after our conversation just hours before, I wondered if it was something serious. However, when I opened it up, it was a simple "he didn't Skype with me" message followed by a sad face emoji.

 _Great._

That just meant Sam wouldn't be expecting anything out of the ordinary. He wouldn't be expecting us to show up and blindside him with another call to duty.

I hoped Optimus was growing accustomed to rejection. I decided not to say anything, though and tried to catch yet another catnap while we traveled. Somehow, some way, I was going force my sleep cycle to normalize.

*:･ﾟ✧

The agreed-to meeting place was an old cemetery of all places. I sank as low as I could when we pulled up and muttered, "Really? We're meeting here?" under my breath.

Optimus, at least, was apologetic. _"It wasn't my first choice, but there were no scheduled ceremonies and it is out of view of any main roads. I hope that it does not make you too uncomfortable given your parents' passing."_

"Oh, I'll be fine," I sighed. I tried to make it sound like I meant it, I really did, but I couldn't muster the conviction.

 _It's fine. It's cool. I gotta get over it sometime._

We waited a while, sitting in mostly silence as I finally started receiving replies from Marie. It was barely the crack of dawn, but apparently, her son liked waking up around that time. For some reason, I couldn't muster up any pity for her.

 _I'll blame the jetlag._

When the sun had finally drifted above the horizon, Optimus' door opened and he declared, _"They're here."_

Without any further prompting, I climbed down and gave him space to transform. Meanwhile, the telltale flash of a bright paint job heralded the arrival of Bumblebee and Sam.

"Bee!"

The yellow Camaro jumped to life and Bumblebee greeted me with a fanfare of music blasting from his speakers. I giggled and shook the finger he extended to me. He looked just as scratched and dinged up as I remembered, which was weird considering the pristine condition of his vehicle mode.

I said, "Wow, it's been so long. Haven't seen you since we were relocated to Diego Garcia. How's the voice?"

Bumblebee put his hand to his throat and said, "Getting better," in a static-filled rasp.

"You sound alright. I'm sure Ratchet will look at it again once we all met up," I assured him. Anything had to be an upgrade from having no voice.

Turning my attention to Sam, I gave him a small wave which he somewhat awkwardly returned. "Hi, Sam," I greeted him with about as much enthusiasm as I would have shown a coworker I kind of sort of got along with.

"How's it going, Kat?"

"Fine. Not getting enough sleep."

He snorted in amusement. "Show me someone who does and I'll call you a liar."

That was all the pleasantries Optimus was going to allow us. He took a step and motioned at me, bringing me to stand at his feet. Bumblebee backed off and Sam gave us a weary look.

"Sam," Optimus began. "I'm afraid we have come to a point where we may need to call upon you again."

"What do you mean?" Sam, resigned, asked.

"A fragment of the Allspark was stolen by the Decepticons less than a day ago."

The color drained from Sam's face and he looked at me as if for confirmation. I gave him a solemn nod and added, "Mikaela was going to tell you during your Skype date, but well . . . I guess you stood her up."

He grimaced and rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah, I uh—well, I don't have to explain myself to you, just to her."

I put my hands up in surrender and said, "I'm sure you had a good reason, you don't seem like that kind of guy." I actually managed to mean that platitude, too. We had our problems, Sam and I, but he at least seemed fully devoted to Mikaela.

Sam gave me a grateful look, then turned his attention back to the Autobot commander. "How'd the fragment get stolen in the first place?" he asked.

"We placed it in the care of your military as a sign of good faith. I admit, the risk was high, but I thought the reward was worth it. Now the military is on high alert and I'm afraid that we need your help, Samuel," Optimus said.

"Wait— _my_ help? Why?"

Optimus deferred to me for the answer.

"They think it's the Autobots' fault that the Decepticons are still here. The government believes that they're just seeking vengeance against us for harboring them," I said, hanging my head. I worked for these people.

"We cannot convince them otherwise," Optimus continued, gesturing his approval to me. "They need to be reminded that it's far from the truth. That we share a common goal. Only one of your kind can remind them of that. _You_ can remind them of that, Samuel."

Sam put his hand against his chest and said, "Me? Why? You have Kat, and Lennox and all of them."

"They tried," I sighed. "They won't listen to the soldiers. They won't listen to the Autobots. I'll be speaking on the Autobot's behalf when the time comes, don't worry."

"See? You have Kat. You don't need me."

"I fear it may not be enough. If we gather enough civilians as well as Lennox and his team, maybe the combined efforts of you all can convince them," Optimus explained.

"So, so, so what exactly do you want me to do? Write a letter or something?"

Optimus shook his head and said, "I want you to stand with us and speak on our behalf. We will ask the same of Kat and Mikaela. You three know us in ways not even Lennox and his team do. I am confident that your experience will go much further when it comes to your leaders."

Sam choked out a laugh. "You—you want me to leave? Go with off with you somewhere?"

"It would just be for a little bit," I assured him. "Like, like a road trip. A short break just to make a speech, and then I'm sure you'll be right back here. You might miss a weekend, or maybe a few days of classes—"

He cut me off with a sharp gesture. "I _just_ got here. I go to my first class tomorrow! I can't just—I can't _leave_."

"Fate rarely calls upon us at a moment of our choosing," came Optimus' calculated reply. "All of us here know this intimately by now."

Now pacing, Sam scoffed and said, "You're _Optimus. Prime._ What do you think I can do that you can't do for yourself? I'm just a normal kid. I want to help, but I just—I can't. I'm not that guy. I'm not . . . I'm not a hero. I'm not some sort of, of, political envoy. I'm not going to do you any good."

"Samuel, your biggest weakness is that you don't have any confidence in yourself," Optimus said.

"All you have to do is tell them how much Bumblebee's friendship means to you," I pointed out. "What we went through and how they helped us."

"You know what I went through?" Sam interjected. "You know what _we_ went through?"

His tone was sharper and I actually shrank back.

"I fell from a _twenty-story_ building. A giant alien robot was trying to rip my head off! I have back problems and I'm still, like, practically a minor. You—Kat, you were held _hostage_ by a jet with a superiority complex and a crazy cop car gave you a concussion! Your memory is still shit."

I let my head drop and I rubbed the scar on my forehead. "I remember _that_ ," I whispered.

"And Mikaela," Sam continued, more anger seeping into his voice. "Mikaela was shot at and almost blown up while she hauled Bumblebee around who had _lost his legs_."

Bumblebee's suspension lowered in shame and he made a strange, low groaning noise like his frame was creaky.

"I'm not getting dragged into any of that again. I don't hold it against you, I don't _blame_ you just like I'm sure you don't blame Jazz or Mikaela doesn't blame Bee," Sam added.

The very idea of blaming Jazz for what Barricade and Starscream had done to me was absurd and I made an affronted sound. But, for the rest of it, neither Optimus nor I had anything to say. My hands balled into fists and I resigned myself. If anything, maybe Mikaela and I would be enough. They just needed someone other than a soldier following orders, right? Mikaela and I could handle that. She would help.

"Look," Sam said, some of the intensity drained from his voice. "You're a forty-foot alien life form. If the government isn't going to listen to you, what makes you think they'll listen to a _college freshman_? A mechanic's daughter?" He turned to me and made a vague gesture, at a loss for words until he finally said, "And what . . . whatever it is you are. It's not gonna happen."

"Gee, thanks," I muttered.

Optimus said, "Samuel, there is more to you than meets the—"

Sam rounded on Optimus without a second's hesitation and shouted, "Stop! Just—just _stop_. I can't help you. I can't. I just can't. I wish I could."

Again, we could do nothing but let him have his moment, all the while thinking that it wasn't a matter of _can._

It was a matter of _desire._

He sighed and rubbed his head, still walking back and forth in the same spot. When he next spoke, it was softer. "Look, I'm really sorry. I am. You guys, Bee over there, you changed my life. Now I'm just trying to have a normal one. Go to school, get a job. I did right by you guys already, now it's time to do right by me. By my parents . . . and . . . others. Sorry."

"Sam," I said, deciding to try one last time even if I knew it was pointless, "we're not asking you to—"

To my surprise, Optimus cut me off. "He has made his choice, Kathryn. We must respect that."

I ducked my head and said, "Sorry."

 _He doesn't want to help us. He's making up excuses,_ I couldn't help but think.

At the same time, though, I couldn't blame him. If it wasn't for the fact that Lennox and Optimus had assured me that I wouldn't be anywhere near a war zone the same way I had been in Mission City, I would have been hesitant to take the position that I'd been offered.

If I didn't have Jazz with me, I never would have agreed. I was there for him, to be with him, more than anything else.

Sam was willing to give up Bumblebee's friendship to have a normal life. I absolutely couldn't allow myself to harbor any ill will toward Sam for picking his own sanity and life over all of this. Everyone had that choice, and he was making his. Optimus was right: we had to respect whatever he decided.

"Thank you. I'm sorry, really. You guys will convince them, though. I know you will. You're—Optimus, you're you. Kat, I wish you all the best. Now, I gotta go. I haven't gotten any sleep and my first class is in a few hours."

"Sure, thanks," I muttered.

After looking at the both of us, Sam turned and headed out. Bumblebee opened his door for him, but he walked pointedly past the Camaro, declaring, "I'll take a cab."

Bumblebee left his door open anyway. A solemn tune drifted out from his stereo speakers.

"It'll be okay," I said to Optimus. "We don't need him. I'll, uh, I'll come up with something to tell them. Mikaela will pick up the slack, speak on his behalf."

"I'm afraid that we will need him. More than he could ever know."

After watching Optimus' crestfallen expression for several long seconds, I sighed and started walking after Sam. Optimus took a step toward me and called, "Kathryn, where are you going? He has made his decision. We must respect that."

Pausing, I looked back and said, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna bug him too much. I'm just call in someone who might be able to convince him for us. We're just gonna hang out."

I stopped in front Bumblebee and pat his hood, giving him a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, Bee. We'll be alright. You go with Optimus to the base and catch up with the others. I'll call Jazz to pick me up once I've had a chance to meet with both Sam and Mikaela. It'll be okay."

The Autobot scout shook and bleated out a recording from _Spongebob_ —"Aye aye, captain!"

Rolling my eyes, I gave his hood another pat, saying, "Your voice won't get any better if you don't try to use it more, you know."

He replied of his own accord. "Yeah, yeah, okay."

Smiling, I gave him one last friendly tap and chased after Sam, earning a confused and then angry look from the kid as he tensed for a verbal fight.

Immediately, I put my hands up and said, "Don't worry, I'm not gonna keep needling you. It's been a while since I've had any company outside of the Autobots and soldiers. I thought maybe since I'm here, I could catch up with you and Mikaela."

"But Mikaela's not—"

With a grin, I said, "She should actually be on her way here soon. Said she would fly out this morning so she could give us that, uh . . . thing you found in your closet."

His eyes widened knowingly. "She is?"

"Yup."

He suddenly became sheepish and averted his gaze. "I uh, I probably would have known that if I hadn't, hadn't uh, stood her up, right?"

I shrugged. "Probably. But that's okay, now you know. Mind if we share the cab back into town?"

"How's Mikaela gonna get here?" he asked. He pulled out his cell phone and started tapping the screen. "I mean, but yeah. We can share. I'll order one now."

"I'll probably rent a car while I'm down here, then I'm going to pick her up from the airport."

"Where's Jazz?" asked Sam.

"Back at base," I said. "Told him I'd be fine for a little while on my own."

"And he believed you?"

I made a noise and shrugged. "He may or may not think that I'm coming back with Optimus and Bumblebee. He'll be alright, though."

"Are you sure you even remember how to drive?" Sam teased me, wearing a lopsided smirk.

"I guess I'll find out. What about you? You always had Bumblebee, too."

He chuckled. "Bee let me drive sometimes."

"Oh yeah? Lucky you."

We fell into a more comfortable conversation about school and work—that I could divulge. Clearances and top secret information and all that—once Sam realized that I wasn't kidding when I'd told him I wasn't going to bug him anymore. I wasn't really sure why I'd even decided to pursue the matter when Sam had been so adamant before. It didn't matter to me what the kid did or didn't do. If he wanted to be normal and go to school, that was his prerogative. If he'd wanted anything more to do with the Cybertronian war, he would have taken up the offer years ago when we'd been given it.

I did. Mikaela had turned it down, too, so she could look after her recently-freed father. That was their decisions. I personally didn't understand what the big deal was about taking a couple days to help out the Autobots, but it was a big deal to Sam.

All I could do was hope that Mikaela would come with us—maybe with the added bonus of changing Sam's mind.

It was mostly that hopeless look on Optimus' face that had me trying. Almost like he knew that, with the fragment gone, he and his team were going to be chased off the planet. That we would doom ourselves to extinction without them on Earth to protect us from the Decepticons. If he was putting that much faith in Sam's testimony, then there had to be something there.

If Optimus said that we needed Sam, then we needed Sam. I wasn't sure why. Mikaela and I had to be enough. I'd do anything to raise Optimus' spirits, though, so I had to give it another shot. If Mikaela agreed, then Sam would surely go along with it.

There was, of course, the chance that even Mikaela declined to help. If that was the case, then I wasn't sure what the game plan was going to be.

 _They can't kick the Autobots off the planet. They just can't._

When the taxi arrived, Sam and I climbed into the back seats. Sam told him to head to the school and I requested to be dropped off at the nearest place that rented out cars.

"I'll pay for the trip up till there. You can get the rest when you're dropped off at school, alright?" I asked.

Sam nodded. "Yeah, sure."

"Cool. And hey, I'm sorry you got blindsided back there. It's been a rough week and tensions are kind of high since even before Shanghai," I sighed.

"Yeah, uh, my roommate is, is like a total conspiracy theorist. He's onto you guys, you know," Sam said.

I looked at him with surprise. "What do you mean?"

We both glanced at the cabbie, but the glass was drawn and we had to assume he couldn't hear the conversation in full. Still, we would be careful and kept our voices low.

Groaning, Sam turned away from me and leaned against the back of his seat, his head tilted back. "He runs a whole website dedicated to getting raw footage of uh, of _them_. He's got all kinds of blurry videos of the Shanghai thing."

"Oh, that's just great . . . ."

"Aren't you guys watching those sites?"

"For the most part," I said. "We do our best, anyway. Jazz and a couple others work hard to monitor the internet, but there's a lot. Stuff slip through the cracks. The Web is a big place and it's hard to completely remove something once it's out there."

"Yeah, yeah, for sure."

"It'll be fine, though. They make sure to wipe anything of any significant quality."

Sam sighed. "I hope so."

"Am I gonna have to have your roommate raided?"

He shot me a withering look. "If he gets on my nerves, I might take you up on that."

I laughed and our conversation ended there. Eventually, the cabbie pulled to a stop in front of an Enterprise and I handed over a wad of cash I had in my coat pocket. As I went to exit the car, I turned back to Sam one last time.

"I'll bring Mikaela down to your dorm and we'll meet you there, then I'll take you both out to lunch. Sound good?" I asked.

"Sounds great."

"Text Mikaela your dorm info so we know where to go. What time works best, around noon?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I just have this one morning class and then I have a few more after one."

"Alright, see you then."

Sam hummed his acknowledgment and once I closed the car door, the cabbie turned around and left. I watched until they turned out of my sight, and then I went inside to rent a car.

 _You're really going above and beyond here, Kat._

I already missed Jazz and it had barely been three hours since I'd last seen him. While I waited for the keys to my new ride, I hit the little button on my earpiece and waited for Jazz to answer.

* * *

 **Hello, readers!**

 **I'm looking for a beta to look over my chapters. My other fics all have betas; this is the only one that doesn't. If you know of anyone or if you would like to take on the task, please message me! I'm doing the best I can on my own, but I love having feedback from someone else's perspective to really help kick the chapter into shape. Thanks!**

 **~ Crayola**


	8. Time to Face It

**Hello, readers!**

 **I found a beta! A very nice rock named Rupert has looked over all my previous chapters as well as this one, so I've updated everything with a few quality of life changes. Nothing too big. Hopefully, things will be a bit more consistent! I'll be taking a bit more time with the edits now because of this, so hopefully the overall state of these chapters will have improved. And, look, I managed not to make everyone wait like eight months before I updated lmao.**

 **Special shout-out to my patrons! Toby, Tonya, Ashley, and Payton! Super great people, I can't thank them enough for their support!**

 **~ Crayola**

* * *

Chapter Eight

Time to Face It

I hadn't expected driving to feel so weird. It hadn't come up with. Jazz before as I was perfectly fine with not driving anywhere. Even before the crash that claimed my parents' lives, being at the wheel hadn't been my favorite thing. Not after the ticket that cop gave me for reckless driving in the parking lot that one winter.

Before that, I hadn't been able to wait to earn my license. The freedom it would allow me. None of that was worth the stress of being pulled over.

Somehow, though, I fell back into the familiar routine of maintaining speed, braking, and using my turn signal. It had been a slightly bumpy ride full of jerky stops and almost-collisions as I relearned when to hit the brakes, but I eventually made it to the airport and picked up Mikaela. On the way to Sam's school, I filled Mikaela in on everything—what had happened in Shanghai, the subsequent briefing with Galloway, and then the meeting with Sam that had ended with us being where we were.

"I can't believe he didn't want to help," Mikaela said when I finished telling her everything. "The Autobots could be kicked off Earth altogether."

Shrugging, I replied, "I mean, he brought up a few good points. I wouldn't be so keen to put myself in a situation where I might be falling off buildings again. I'd understand if you didn't want to come, either. I know you have your dad to worry about."

She scoffed and said, "If I left, it'd just force him to become an adult for a little while."

 _"_ _Kat."_

"He was okay with you flying out here on such short notice?"

"Yeah, just said that I was going to visit my boyfriend," she said. "Didn't seem to mind. Maybe he didn't hear me. It's hard to tell sometimes with him."

A rueful smile spread across of my face and I said, "Yeah, parents. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em."

Mikaela clicked her tongue in sympathy and put her hand on my shoulder. She changed the subject and said, "Anyway, I'd be more than happy to help out the Autobots. I'll talk to Sam about it some while I'm here. He's such a baby sometimes."

Although this had been my exact intention, I still tried to play it off and said, "Don't bother him too much, though. He seemed pretty annoyed with us."

 _"_ _Kat."_

She waved me off. "Please, you just have to know how to work him over."

"Well, I'm sure if anyone knew how to do that it would be you," I said, shaking my head. The GPS on my phone belted out some directions and I leaned forward to better read the street signs. I'd already missed, like, three turns.

Driving was like riding a bike, but apparently navigating and holding a conversation was still beyond my capabilities.

 _"_ _Kat!"_

"Oh my god, it sounds dirty when you say it like that."

I snickered and said, "I didn't mean anything by it."

"Yeah, I'm so sure."

"Anyway," I said, pulling up to U-turn when I missed the GPS' instructions. "We shouldn't be too far away. We'll pick Sam up at his dorm and then go to lunch. Anywhere you want to go?"

Mikaela shrugged. "I'm sure where ever is fine, but I should tell you _,_ Sam was acting really weird on the phone when I landed. He was talking a bunch of nonsense about his ancestor and seeing things, symbols . . . ."

"Wait, really?" I said, glancing over at her. "What kind of symbols was—"

" _KATHRYN!"_

I screeched and tore the hands-free earpiece out of my ear, skittering it across the dashboard where it bounced against the windshield. All I heard was a shrill ringing as I tried to adjust to having Jazz shout directly into my eardrum.

"What the hell, Kat?" Mikaela snickered, straining against her seatbelt to retrieve my earpiece.

Jazz was still calling for me, sounding more and more frantic by the minute, even going so far as to call me by my full name like he was my dad or something. I rubbing my temple once, then held my hand out so Mikaela could give me back the thing.

"It's Jazz," I muttered, fitting it back in. "Sorry, what? I was having a conversation, Jazz. I think you made me deaf in this ear, thanks."

 _"_ _Kathryn, I need you to listen."_

"I'm listening, Jazz," I murmured, my hands tightening on the steering wheel. He was using his serious dialect.

He never used his serious dialect.

 _"_ _We've got major Decepticon activity in the area. The team's split, trying to intercept. I need you to high-tail it back to base right this instant. We're afraid that they used the sliver they stole to revive Megatron, so they're making their move."_

"Where are they?"

 _"_ _Kathryn—"_

" _Where_ are they, Jazz? I need to know which routes to avoid," I lied, pushing a little harder against the gas. Sam's dormitory was only a couple more blocks away. We would have been there already if I hadn't messed up the GPS directions so much. I couldn't just leave him alone if there were enemies coming.

There was no doubt in my mind that they were coming for the shard and probably him, too. The way Sam told the story of Mission City, he'd really pissed off Megatron.

Jazz groaned but relayed the Decepticons' current trajectories in relation to where I was.

The color drained from my face. They were _close._

"Kat, what's up?" Mikaela asked.

"We gotta hurry," I growled, urging the rental car faster, accidentally jumping the corner of a curb into a hard turn. To Jazz, I said, "I'm going to go get Sam. Mikaela's with me already, and then I'll come back to base."

 _"_ _What!"_

"It'll be fine, Jazz. I can't leave Sam. You know why they're coming," I said, sounding a lot calmer than I felt.

 _"_ _We're on the way, Kathryn! We'll pick up Sam. I need_ you _to get back here in one piece, you understand?"_ he said. I could hear his engine revving in the background.

"I'm literally parking right now."

I picked whatever first open spot I could find and jumped out of the car, keys in hand. Mikaela almost forgot to close the door, her single bag gathered up in her arms along with a big metal box. I thought I saw it shaking.

 _"_ _Kathryn!"_

"Kat, why are we running? Is it the—you know who's?"

"Yes," I puffed, trying to keep up my pace. "We gotta get Sam and meet up with the Autobots. You have the thing, right?"

She patted her bag. "Yeah, it's in here."

We climbed the steps two at a time into the building, then forwent the elevator to Sam's floor altogether. Students were milling about, some only in towels as they made their way into the showers.

Jazz was still in my ear, but eventually, he gave up and said, _"Fine, fine. You're already in there, aren't you? Just be safe."_

The line went dead before I could say anything else.

I was going to have to deal with all that later.

"They have to be coming for the shard," I said to Mikaela, barely dodging a kid carrying a few textbooks. He flattened against the wall and watched the two of us with his mouth open slightly.

Someone down the hall shouted, "Woah, there are chicks in here!"

Mikaela and I ignored them. I knew a lot of the attention they were giving us was mostly for her—I hadn't gotten the chance to put on any makeup before flying out here and I was wearing whatever clothes had been closest at the time.

 _She_ always looked like she just stepped out of a fashion magazine.

"Which one's Sam?" I asked her, stopping in a hall and looking around. I was out of breath even from that short stint. I was going to have to join the morning joggers at work after all this. I'd been meaning to but hadn't ever gotten around to it.

Running wasn't something I thought of a fun pastime.

After whipping out her phone to check, Mikaela waved for me to follow and said, "It's this way."

I nodded and jogged after her through a long stretch of hallway. She stopped in front of a door and made sure it was the right one, then knocked on it. It was already open, so she pushed it further and called out, "Sam, are you—"

Her body went rigid and there was nothing but silence from the other side of the door. I stared at her for a second, then walked over and reached for the door, but stopped short.

"This is _perfect_. Great. Thanks _so much_ , Sam. I hope they _eat you_ ," Mikaela spat.

"Wait, Mikaela!" came Sam's voice. There was shuffling and scuffing before he continued. "This isn't—I promise, we were just _talking_! This—"

Another voice chimed in, breathy and feminine. "Is that your girlfriend, Sam?"

"Ex," Mikaela huffed, slamming the door shut.

Before I could say or do anything, she spun around on her heel and grabbed my arm, yanking me back down the hallway and toward the parking lot.

"Wait, Mikaela . . . Sam—the Decepticons—"

"I don't care. They can smash him into paste for all I care. We're getting this shard and this other little asshole to the Autobots," she intoned. I had no idea what she meant by the latter statement, but it was hardly on my mind. Her expression was dark, but there were tears brimming in her eyes.

A strange sort of anger lit like a candle's flame in my gut and I pulled my hand free, marching back down the hallway toward Sam's room. Mikaela had slammed the door so hard it hadn't even latched properly and was hanging open. Normally, I avoided confrontation like the plague. Seeing Mikaela like that, though, had me charging right toward it to give Sam a piece of my mind.

I don't know what he was doing in there, but if there had been another chick with him and Mikaela was this visibly upset, I could only imagine. All I could do was hope that they hadn't finished undressing each other yet.

A crash came from inside the room and I hesitated, not particularly wishing to see Sam hammering some broad into a musty old college mattress, but it didn't quite sound right.

Unless they were into some weird shit, that wasn't a normal sort of crash.

Gathering my wits again, I yanked open Sam's door, a few choice words standing at the tip of my tongue, but they died right there before I could utter any of them.

That was no chick riding Sam.

I screamed and stumbled into the wall across from the room, my hands flying to my mouth. The tall, busty blonde had just finished throwing Sam across the room with a metallic tail sprouting out from under her practically see-through dress. Mikaela popped up in the doorway, blocking my view. The not-girl shrieked an unearthly sound and Mikaela hurled the big metal box at her face. It hit her with a glancing blow hard enough to knock her off kilter and she tumbled off Sam's bed.

"Hey, Sam!" someone called, coming to stand next to Mikaela. "Listen, this Alice girl—"

He froze and the not-girl leaped back to her feet. Her face exploded into a metallic mass of Decepticon rage and Medusa-like tentacles framing her face.

" _Holy fucking shit_!" the new guy screamed.

Finally coming back to myself, I grabbed Mikaela and pulled her away from the door as Sam came rushing through, barely dodging a needle-tipped tendril aimed at him. He shoved who I assumed was his roommate aside, slamming the door behind him.

"Go! Go!" he commanded.

No one needed to be told twice. All of us broke into a run down the hall just as the door to Sam's dorm exploded into a hail of splinters, hurtling into the wall I had just been standing against mere seconds before.

"Sam!" his roommate huffed, his voice harsh in my ears. "That was some sort of metal _she-beast robot monster_! What's going on here?"

"Alice is an alien robot," Sam muttered.

"They're _real_? They're _here_?"

We were too busy running to talk anymore, but I still tapped the small button on my headset. Jazz answered instantly and before he could even ask, I was shouting.

"They're here, Jazz! I have Sam and Mikaela, we're trying to get out of the dorm," I said between panting.

 _"_ _What? Who? Which ones? At Sam's school?"_

Glancing over my shoulder, I didn't immediately see the Alice robot. "I don't know, Jazz. She—it—it looked like a normal girl! A regular-ass blonde chick!"

 _"_ _Pretenders? Here? Slag it all!"_

We broke out into the quad, taking a different entrance than the Mikaela and I had come from. Now I was all turned around and didn't know where the parking lot was. Where my rental was. I looked back to Sam and said, "The parking lot! I have a car, we have to get to the parking lot."

He looked behind us as well and I followed his gaze to the blonde Terminator marching toward us with only the minimal amount of urgency.

"We'd have to go back that way," he said.

"Forget it," I muttered.

Sam took us to the library and I was surprised to find an actual security checkpoint at the desk checking IDs. I guess they had super-secret books that only students were allowed to see. Sam and his roommate flashed their badges, but Mikaela could only barrel through.

"Hey, wait!" he called after us. "Only students—"

Ignoring him even as he stumbled away from his desk to pursue us, we slipped through the shelves and picked a sequestered corner away from a large group of studying students, nestling up into a corner. We sat down to catch our breaths, our backs to the shelf. A book fell off next to me but I paid it no mind. If the guard was still trying to find us, I couldn't tell. He was the least of our worries.

"I can't believe it," the roommate muttered, his chest heaving even harder than mine was. "I just saw her on TV and was coming to tell you! She looks _just like_ this android from a park on this commercial—"

"It's called 'trans-scanning'," Mikaela whispered.

 _"_ _Kat, are you alright?"_ Jazz asked. It had been a hot minute since we'd said anything to each other, likely because I was running for my life and he was trying to navigate. I could only hope that he was close by and we'd be able to meet up soon.

"Yes, yes I'm alright. We're ok, for now. I think we lost her, but I don't know. She looked like a normal person, Jazz. How many of these . . . I can't trust _anybody_ now!"

 _"_ _Relax,"_ Jazz crooned. _"Pretenders aren't common. It's hard to take on an organic form."_

"Who's she talking to?" the roommate muttered.

"One of the good ones," Sam supplied.

The roommate's eyes went wide. "One of the _aliens_?"

"Jazz, I gotta go," I huffed, leaning forward to take stock of our squad. I was at the end next to Mikaela, who was next to the roommate, and Sam brought up the other end.

"I can see that you really _missed_ me, Sam," Mikaela hissed, leaning around the roommate who completely froze, glancing down at her as if he had just realized she was there.

Sam shook his head. "'Kaela, look. I— _I'm_ the victim here! She's an evil alien robot, okay? I didn't—I wasn't complicit in any of that. She was so _heavy_. I tried, I did, I tried to fight her off!"

"Oh yeah, it looked like you were trying _really_ hard to get her tongue out of your mouth, Witwicky."

"Guys," I tried to interject.

Shaking, Sam pointed at his throat and said, "She tasted like _jet fuel_ , 'Kaela! Her tongue—it was so big—I think she pierced my uvula!"

"You deserved it."

"Guys! Let's talk about this later," I pleaded.

However, Sam had more to say. "She _deceived_ me, Mikaela. Remember? They're Decepticons. That's what they _do_."

All she did was roll her eyes. "Yeah, ok, convenient."

The roommate cast suspicious glances at both Mikaela and I, then said, "Wait, you two are real, right? Actual, _human_ girls, right? With real skin, and real—"

"Sam, who is this guy?" I demanded.

He offered me his hand and said, "Leo Spitz, founder of The-Real-Effin-Deal-dot-com. Maybe you've heard of it."

I just stared at him in disbelief. Then, I returned my attention to Sam and pointed at Leo. "Is this the guy? The one we're going to have to raid?"

"Yes."

Leo looked between us. "What? What raid? Me? I'm the key to all this, you know. The aliens are after _me_. They tracked me here, because of my _website_!"

"What?" Mikaela exhaled, shaking her head in disbelief.

His voice was gaining more pitch the longer he ranted. "They want me dead. I know too much about them. I've been on to them from the beginning, you know! And now they're coming to kill me! They _want me dead_!"

Mikaela rolled her eyes and said, "They're not after _you_. They're after him. They're after _us._ "

"Can—do you guys think that, maybe, we could . . . I don't know . . . hide in _silence_ for a little bit? Just a few minutes?" Sam begged.

"Hey!"

We jumped and Leo screamed, but it was just the security guard. It seemed like he'd finally found us.

"You can't be in here without some ID," he harrumphed.

Not even a second later, the stack next to us exploded, raining debris and dust over us. I barely managed not to yelp in terror. Books scattered in every which way and the human-sized Decepticon burst her way into the library, those sharp red eyes searching. We skirted around the back of what remained of the shelf, fleeing in the opposite direction and leaving the guard behind. The library was filled with screaming, running students as they tried to escape the commotion. I had to rely on the two boys to guide us toward the exit all while trying to avoid heavy tables being thrown in our direction.

A shot of energy singed overhead and I hit the deck, covering my head as the outer stone wall exploded. Mikaela and I helped each other back up as Sam led us through the still-smoking opening out into the bright world. Frantic students joined us as we made haste toward the parking lot. The Alice 'Con was still firing, tearing holes in the lawn and obscuring the area in plumes of smoke and dust. Cars peeled out, hopping curbs and rushing over barriers. Horns blared from the main road.

Mikaela tugged on the handles of every unoccupied car we ran by until one of the doors finally opened and she yelled at us to load in. She left the passenger side hanging and jumped into the driver's seat while I piled into the back, stopping Leo in his tracks with my hand against his chest.

"Keep _running_ , Leo," I said. Up front, Sam was playing lookout while Mikaela went to work hotwiring the SUV.

"What, why? Wait, is she hotwiring? That's so _hot_."

"You're safer _away_ from us," I said, smacking his chest to regain his attention. "Keep running, go as far as you can as fast as you can and never look back."

He shook his head and shoved his way into the car, making me crawl into the other seat behind Mikaela. He was saying, "Oh no, no no! I'm staying. This is going _straight_ onto my website! Robo-Warrior won't scoop me on this, not this time!"

I stared at him in disbelief.

"Oh!" he gasped, pulling out his phone. "I have to start recording! Gah, I missed so much already!"

The car's engine roared to life and we settled in as Mikaela tore off through the parking lot. I had enough time to buckle up before she ran over a median to hit the winding road around the buildings.

"What was your website's name again?" I asked Leo, smiling sweetly.

Leo looked up from his phone to grin back and said, "The-Real-Effin-Deal-dot-com. Me and two other guys run it. We got all kinds of exclusive video of the giant robots, recently from Shanghai. I can show you, I got it right—"

With one hand, I silenced him and with the other, I dialed in Jazz on my earpiece.

 _"_ _Kathryn! Kathryn, where are you?"_

"We're in a car. Mikaela's driving us away from the school. I don't know where the . . . uh . . . the pretender is."

 _"_ _Good, we're on the way. I'll be there for you soon."_

"I'm not that worried, Jazz," I mutter—another lie. I'm beside myself, trying to ignore the frenetic beating of my heart against my ribs. I'm surprised I can even make anything I say sound convincing. "She was very small, so we'll probably lose her in this car. But I need a favor. Just really quick, okay?"

 _"_ _What? Anything."_

"The-Real-Effin-Deal-dot-com. It has sensitive information on it that I don't think people need to be seeing," I said, making eye-contact with Leo.

His face paled and he lifted a hand toward me. "What—What are you doing?"

Jazz was silent for a moment, then said, _"Oh, wow. How did this stuff get here?"_

"You gonna wipe it?"

"What? N-no! Stop! What are you _doing_!"

 _"_ _It's already gone."_

I showed Leo my hands and said, "No more website."

He stared at me with his mouth wide open and then looked back to his phone hurriedly swiped through screens, making pathetic sounds. Meanwhile, Mikaela came to a stop and pointed out into the lawn, telling Sam, "I need you to go grab that for me."

Sam hesitated, but jumped out of the car all the same and ran to that metal box Mikaela had been carrying with her. It was out in the middle of the lawn, surrounded by shards of glass. Further up the building was a broken window—the one to Sam's dorm. I hadn't even noticed that she'd tossed it straight through a window. This time, I couldn't ignore the fact that the box was rocking back and forth.

"What did you do!" Leo wailed, holding his phone over his head.

Both of us did our best to ignore him.

"Got it," Sam said as he climbed back in. He barely managed to close his door before Mikaela was taking off again. The box wobbled in his grasp and he wrestled it to the floor. "What in the world is inside this thing, anyway?"

A thick metal tentacle smashed through the windshield, coiling and thrashing in the space between the four of us in search of something to grab onto. I curled up into my seat to make myself a smaller target and cringed against my door. Though Mikaela was already flooring it as the rest of the Alice robot climbed onto the hood, Sam and Leo screeched at her to drive.

"Hang on!" Mikaela warned.

She was headed straight for the building. I braced myself for impact while Sam shouted, "Wait, wait, are you out of your freaking—"

Mikaela slammed straight into a light post and the car jerked to a sudden stop, the back wheels raising slightly from the ground and tossing me forward. The impact was enough to dislodge the robot clinging to the front of the car as well as set off the airbags. Mikaela popped her balloon with a screwdriver she'd used to hotwire the car and did the same to Sam's.

Part of me was just glad that I didn't have to go through smacking into an airbag again. I didn't know if being thrown against my seatbelt was any better, though.

The pretender scrambled at the hood, screeching and crawling her way toward the windshield.

"Kiss this, bitch!" Mikaela hissed.

The car jerked twice as she urged the car forward again, pulling Alice under the car and running right over her. Leo and I turned around to watch out of the rear window as the crumpled alien fought to stand, quickly disappearing from sight. When she didn't show back up after we were on the proper street, careening through the roads, we returned to our seats and deflated with relief.

"Alright, Sam," Leo wailed. "Explain right now! From the _top_. Who are you guys, _really_? You're all taking this _way_ too well. Are you from the future? Are you actually aliens, as well? Sam, how did you get such a fine piece of work to _look_ at you?"

Mikaela, her eyes locked on the road ahead, still managed to say, "Oh my god, will you _shut. Up_?"

"Seriously," Sam seconded. "Stop talking, Jesus."

"And why did this bi—lady _delete my entire fucking website_? I worked hard on that!"

Jazz was back in my ear, an edge to his voice. I put a hand over my other ear to keep out the chatter going on around me as they tried to clue Leo in.

"Sorry, Jazz, what was that?"

 _"_ _Kathryn, I'm locked on your position. Bumblebee and I are coming while Optimus and the twins close in on the other threats."_

"We're safe now, Jazz. Mikaela ran over the pretender and we lost her. Just tell us where to go and we'll get there," I said, realizing that I'd left my phone in the rental that I was probably never going to return.

What a nice bill that was going to be showing up in my mail in a few weeks.

 _"_ _No, Kathryn,"_ Jazz intoned. _"The Decepticon Bee and I are tracking, it's going to beat us there. You gotta find somewhere to hunker down, it could be there any minute and I'm not going to—"_

The car was thrown into a sideways skid as Mikaela desperately tried to avoid a heavy lift helicopter diving out of the sky toward us. I strained against my seatbelt and let out a screech as a huge metal claw crashed through the roof of our car, lifting it off the ground. Our hotwired SUV careened sideways and the weight of it popped open Sam's door. Mikaela leaned over to grab him and he clung desperately to his own seatbelt, barely avoiding being tossed out of the vehicle completely. I was thrown against my seat and Leo on top of me. I was quick to shove him off and he braced himself with all four limbs to keep from falling on me again.

I had to close my eyes to keep the dizziness away—we were spinning around the claw holding us, swaying back and forth as it flew us off to God knew where. My heart was ready to burst through my chest and I let out another scared whimper.

 _"_ _Kathryn?"_

"Jazz," I managed to gasp, opening my eyes. "I'm . . . they . . . something's got us and—"

The line suddenly went dead and I was thrown into near hyperventilating, tapping my earpiece over and over, hoping to reconnect with Jazz, with the one thing that had been keeping me calm. His voice, if I could just keep hearing his voice, then—

Nothing. No Jazz or background noise. No static. Everything was silent except for the incessant drone of the helicopter above us. Tears threatened to fall but I swallowed them, trying hard to remind myself that they were coming, that Jazz knew—or at least had an idea of—where I was. It didn't matter if I couldn't talk to him anymore. He'd be there soon.

I'd talk to him in person once we escaped.

Suddenly, the claw detached and we were free falling. I sat weightless in the air for several seconds before the SUV crashed through the roof of a derelict-looking building. It hit the ground hard and I was thrown around the cab, saved any severe damage by the seat belt, though the whiplash had my neck and back aching already. Thankfully, adrenaline stymied some of the pain.

I realized at that time that Sam was no longer in the car. No matter how hard I looked, though, I couldn't find him amid the rising dust and my blurry vision.

The loud drawl of a saw split the air as a scything blade did the same to the car, sundering it in half down the length. It had come frightening close to shearing off my limbs, as well, but I'd balled up tight to avoid any injury. The two halves of the car fell apart and I unbuckled my seatbelt, staggering free of the vehicle and limping over to a guardrail.

It took all my willpower to keep from retching over that rail. Taking deep breaths helped and I looked around the place. It seemed to be some sort of factory, long abandoned and covered in dust, dirt, and leaves that had blown in from outside.

Mikaela tapped me and motioned for me to follow. "Come on, let's go find Sam and get out of here."

I turned and tried to hurry after her and Leo, but a hulking, strikingly familiar form strode in front of us, cutting off our escape down the walkway. Mikaela bolted to her right but stopped short when another terrifying figure rose up to his full height, blocking off any other escape attempts.

"Come here, _boy_!" the colossus snarled—he was the first to find Sam, whom I still couldn't see.

Starscream sneered down at us, raising his fist above our heads. Leo cowered behind Mikaela and me as the jet bore down, his optics narrowing.

"What a pleasant surprise. The boy _and_ the first lieutenant's little pet."


End file.
